Yo Ho, Yo Ho, This life is not the one for me?
by DrumlineSuperAsh0095
Summary: AkuRoku. Roxas used to love pretending that he was a pirate. As he grew up, his love for pirates soon changed. When his brother is taken by pirates, Roxas is forced to disguise himself as a pirate to save him. And he later meets this red haired pirate....
1. The Beginning

So, I have come back. Lol! This time with a new story. I wanted to try a **PIRATE** AkuRoku story. Of course, this is me just procrastinating on homework that's due tomorrow. **Dx** Gah! Well, enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own freakin' Kingdom Hearts II or anything. Only the ideas to this story. So please don't sue.

--**DrumlineSuperAsh0095**

**NEW:** Umm...okay. For all you current readers, i just editted a few things to the first chapter. Nothing too major...but yeah. To all the new readers, don't worry about it.

* * *

xXxXx

"_Argh! Ready or not I'm going to find you Roxas!"_

_Roxas crouched behind a few barrels that were stacked on top of one another. He was small enough that his 8 year-old brother wouldn't ever be able to find him. Roxas let out an inaudible giggle._

"_Roxas! Where are youuuuuu?!"_

"_Hey Sora!" Another voice called out._

_Roxas peeked through the tiny space that was between each barrel to see who had called out to his older brother._

_A boy with silver hair stood right beside the brunette. He was several inches taller than Sora and was a year older too. The silver-haired boy smiled at the other._

"_Hey Riku!"_

"_Sora, why are you wearing that silly pirate hat?" Riku poked the feather that was protruding from the side of the red hat._

"_Oh this? Uhh…I'm playing 'hide-n-go-seek' pirate style with Roxas. By the way, you haven't seen him have you?"_

_Riku shook his head. The sun was sitting on top of the ocean and was about to set. Sora closed his eyes and let out a sigh. This usually meant that he was about to forfeit the game to Roxas because it was soon going to be dark outside._

_Sora ran his hand through his hair, "Alright Roxas. It's getting pretty late and we need to head home now."_

_He looked around for the 7 year-old to come out of his hiding place. Sora began to furrow his eyebrows._

"_Maybe you have to admit that he won the game…" Riku whispered into Sora's ear._

_He let out an exasperated sigh, "Fineeee. Come on out Roxas. You win the game today."_

"_YIPPEE!!"_

_Roxas jumped up from behind the barrels and ran towards the older boys. He had a huge smile painted on his face. Riku raised an eyebrow after seeing Roxas with his black eye patch over his right eye. Maybe Sora really wasn't kidding when he said that he was playing "PIRATE" hide-n-go-seek._

"_So that means…I won…" Roxas began to count on his tiny fingers, "50 times this week!"_

_Riku stared in disbelief, "You guys have played this game 50 times this week?!"_

"_No! More like 10 times…Roxas can't count!"_

"_Nah-uh!! It's 50! Sora just can't accept that I'm better than him at this game!"_

_Sora crossed his arms across his chest and stuck his tongue out at his younger brother. Roxas mimicked him, sticking out his tongue too. Riku looked at the two quarreling brothers and sighed. This was going to be a long night if he was planning to stay over at their house that night._

* * *

Roxas sat on the edge of his bed, staring at an old picture of the three of them. The photo was taken nearly 10 years ago. Roxas still had his little black eye patch that covered his right eye. Sora still wore his red pirate hat. And Riku still never had gotten into the whole "hide-n-go-seek pirate style" game.

A lot of things had changed within 10 years. For instance, all three of them were definitely older. Sora was now 18 and Roxas was about to turn 17. Back then, pirates were nothing but figments of the imagination and old folklores, but after the last few incidents here in Port Royal …Oh, pirates were no longer just fun and games. About a year after the photo of the three young boys was taken, Sora walked into his classroom one morning only to find out that his best friend had been kidnapped by a very treacherous pirate crew. If that wasn't bad enough, their parents were both killed trying to protect Roxas and Sora from experiencing the same fate that Riku had years before.

He heard the front door swing open and placed the picture back on the nightstand that was right next to his bed. Roxas sighed, got up from his bedside, and walked down the wooden stairs. He was greeted by a sweat and dirt covered Sora.

"Afternoon, Rox." He smiled.

"Afternoon yourself. What happened to you?"

"Aah…Cid asked if I could come in early this morning to help him out. Sorry I didn't leave you a note or anything."

"Well, that's what I get for having a brother who's the town blacksmith's apprentice." Roxas shrugged.

"Now, I'm going to head upstairs and give myself a well deserved shower."

"You better, or I'll throw you out with the neighbor's pigs. I mean you'd feel right at home with them wouldn't ya?"

"Hah…that's real funny, Roxas." Sora said sarcastically before running up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Roxas smiled to himself; at least he didn't lose Sora to those damned pirates too. He wondered how Sora could cope with the fact of losing Riku and their parents to them. If Roxas had lost Hayner, Naminé, Olette, or Pence to the pirates too…He'd surely go insane. But Sora was always able to maintain his composure, even at their parents' funeral. Maybe that was the rule of an older brother, "never lose your composure in front of the younger sibling". Roxas would have hated being the older brother if that was true.

"Oy! What are you thinking so hard about?"

He turned around to see Sora towel-drying his hair behind him.

"Whoa! Since when were you done with your shower?"

"Uhh…I've been done for a good 5 minutes now. Jeez, what's making you think so much that you don't even notice the obvious?"

"I don't know. Just think about stuff…I guess."

"Well, stop thinking about 'stuff' or else your brain is gonna explode."

Roxas scoffed, "Like that will ever happen…"

"You know what, Rox? We're going out to eat tonight. Think of it as…a sort of gift to get you off of thinking so much, hmm?" Sora smiled.

Roxas smiled back at his older brother, "I'd like that."

xXxXx

* * *

So? How'd you like it, hmm? Please R&R! And I'll try to get other chapters out as soon as possible. D:

--**DrumlineSuperAsh0095**


	2. Let's go BNO

Well, I'm still procrastinating...kinda getting some homework done... D: I really am starting to like this "pirate" aspect of kingdom hearts 2. xD 'Nuff of my ranting...so here's chapter two.

* * *

xXxXx

Later that evening, Roxas was in his room getting ready for Sora's "brothers' night out". Oh yes, with a title like that…tonight was definitely going to be interesting. He looked back into the mirror once more and tried to style his unruly blond hair. Roxas heard a knock on his door.

"Come in."

Sora popped his head inside, "Hey Rox, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go."

Roxas followed Sora down the stairs, out of the front door, and out onto the streets of Port Royal. The night was calm and the only source of lighting was the enormous, white, full moon above the boys' heads. Sora led them to a small restaurant near the Harbor. 

"Ahh…Sora! How have ya been, kiddo?"

"Hey Tifa, table for two, please. I've been pretty good, just taking little Roxas out tonight."

Tifa smiled at the two boys lead them to their booth. Sora sat on one side of the booth and Roxas took the opposite seat across from him. Tifa pulled the pen from behind her ear, grabbed the notepad that was in her apron pocket, and took the boys' orders.

"You sure you have enough munny to pay for this?" Roxas asked after Tifa had left.

"Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't have offered to take you out if I didn't…"

"Thanks a bunch, Sora."

"No problem little bro. I mean come on…it's what big brothers are here for." He smiled.

"You have no idea how messed up I'd be if the pirates took you too that night."

Sora's smile began to fade away, "Well, I'm just glad we were able to go out of the house in time…"

The two boys sat in silence and waited for their food to arrive. Roxas felt a bit guilty for slightly spoiling his brother's great mood, but at least he told Sora the truth. It's the thought that counts, after all.

* * *

Deep in the Harbor, the _Dark Doom_ lie quietly in the darkness. The _Dark Doom_ was the most infamous pirate ship of them all. The ship was lead by Captain Xemnas and his 13 member crew on board. While the captain was in his quarters and most of the other crew-mates were in their cabins, two of the members stood outside on the deck. One of them had rosy-pink hair. The other had his blond hair styled into a mullet faux-hawk...thing.

"Tonight is a full moon…you know what that means."

"Another mission? Aaaawwwww!!!" the blond one groaned.

"I know, I know…but it's what the Captain wants. Get the rest of the crew ready, we strike at midnight."

"Fine…"

The blond guy let out a sigh and headed down towards the cabins, leaving the pink-haired pirate to stare out at the vacant Harbor. He scanned the area for the perfect place to execute their mission. The pirate spotted a small restaurant nearby and smirked.

"Bingo."

* * *

Roxas looked over at the clock that was mounted on the wall. It was 11:50 pm. He couldn't believe that they had been there for so long. Well, they did happen to run into a few good friends from school there. So that might have been the reason why they had not left yet. Sora was currently talking to a couple of his friends: Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie. Roxas resided at the booth, still poking at his leftover entrée.

"Hayner, isn't that Roxas sitting over there?"

"Yeah, I think you're right. Hey Roxas!"

He quit poking at his food and saw a group of his friends from school. The group consisted of Naminé, Hayner, Olette, and Pence. All of them had a smile on their face as they walked up to the booth.

"Hey Roxas." Olette and Naminé said in unison.

"Hey guys."

"Dude, this is so weird! We've never seen you anywhere outside of school." Pence exclaimed.

"Pence is right. What made you come out tonight, Rox?" Hayner asked.

"Am I that much of an anti-social person?" Roxas cocked an eyebrow and smiled, "Sora dragged me out tonight. He calls it his 'B.N.O'...brothers' night out…"

"Aww! That's so cool. I wish my brother would do that for me. But he's too busy with work, college, and being a freakin' anti-social loner." Olette pouted.

"Just give him time…" Naminé tried to comfort her.

"Naah, he's probably too busy with all that and his boyfriend too."

Roxas choked on his soda and sputtered, "Wait… Leon's GAY!?"

"Hahah! Actually, I really don't know. I mean he doesn't have a girlfriend…" Olette shrugged.

"Uggh. Remind me not to hang out with your brother when he's free." Hayner said.

"Hah, yeah right Hayner. More like, 'please remind me when he's free so I can spend every bloody moment with my lover'!"

"Shuddup Roxas!"

Hayner's face turned to a tomato-red as he shoved Roxas towards the booth wall. Roxas had a huge smile plastered onto his face while the others continued to laugh at his joke. Just as they began to calm down again, Sora walked towards them.

"Hey Rox, it's almost midnight, we better start heading home."

"Alright." He said getting out of the booth, "I'll see you guys later!"

Roxas and his friends exchanged goodbyes. Then he and Sora walked back out into the darkened streets. Unfortunately, the two brothers didn't make it too far from the restaurant. Just as they stepped outside of the restaurant, a band of pirates barricaded the path home.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here, boys." The pirate with short blond hair and multiple earrings sneered.

Sora's eyes narrowed at the group, "What do you want with us?"

"We just need one of you to come with us. Preferably without a fight." said the pirate with rosy-pink hair.

"Never!"

The rosy haired pirate sighed, "I was hoping we didn't have to resort to this…but I guess we have to in order to accomplish the Captain's task."

After his last word, the pink haired pirate snapped his fingers and all the other pirates that were with him lunged at the two teens. Sora stood his ground and tried to fend off each of the pirates that approached him. Roxas, unfortunately, didn't have a clue of what to do. He tried to mimic his brother but failed miserably. He found himself surrounded by 3 or 4 pirates. Without panicking too much, he tried to find Sora. He managed to see through a space between two pirates and saw an unconscious Sora having his wrists and ankles tied together by the blond pirate and another one with multiple scars on his face and an eye-patch resting on one of his eyes.

"Sora!!"

That was the last thing he could manage to say before the pink-haired pirate knocked him out. Roxas heard a faint mumbling before his eyes closed rapidly as he lost consciousness and could feel his body falling against the cold, hard pavement.

xXxXx


	3. What just happened?

Me again! I do believe that this will be my last update for tonight...and quite possibly for the rest of the week too. o.O Mainly because of school, homework, demanding friends, and then catching up on much needed sleep. So far, from just posting two chapters...apparently, I've earned myself a couple reviews that were all warm-n-fuzzy. I mean they aren't many, but I do believe it is the thought that counts.

Here's a **BIG** thanks to: **The happiest emo on earth, Rosoku-san, and DreamlessRiver**.

If I could share my cookies and apple juice with you guys (without hurting myself...or the laptop) I would. :D

So, here's chapter three!

* * *

xXxXx

"Roxas! Roxas!" 

"Nnnhhh…"

"Come on, Rox! Wake up!"

Roxas slowly opened his eyes. Blurry images turned clear again. He noticed that he was not lying on the cold street anymore, but he was back inside the restaurant, lying on a couch. His friends were gathered around him.

"Wh-what happened?"

"Oh, thank goodness." Naminé let out a sigh of relief.

"Dude! You were freakin' attacked by pirates! You had me really worried." Hayner exclaimed.

"Hayner, calm down, please!" Olette begged.

"No! My best friend was just attacked. **HOW CAN I CALM DOWN**!?"

"…Pirates?…" Roxas tried to concentrate, "What pirates?"

Tifa came over to his side and placed a wet rag on his forehead. She began to push away the stray strands of blond hair that covered Roxas's forehead.

"Don't think about it too much. Just stay here and rest a while." she coaxed before returning to the dishes.

"How do you **NOT** remember them!? You barely walked 5 steps away from this place and then **BAM!** A group of freakin' pirates surround you and Sora! **HOW DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THAT**!?" Hayner continued to freak out.

"Sora..." His eyes grew wide and he shot up from laying down to sitting up, "SORA!"

Everything was slowly coming back to him. He clearly remembered being surrounded by the band of pirates, Sora being bound by two of them, and then he was attacked from behind after shouting out to Sora. The wet cloth fell from his forehead and into his lap.

"Hey Rox, you okay?" Pence asked.

Roxas didn't answer. He was so focused on trying to remember every single detail that had happened after leaving the restaurant. He remembered the pink-haired pirate, the blond one with several earrings, but something was missing...but what? Wait...didn't one of the pirates say something before he had fainted? Roxas closed his eyes and tried to recall what had happened. He remembered a faint mumbling before he lost consciousness.

"Roxas? Are you--" Naminé began to ask before Roxas held up his hand to silence her in order to concentrate.

After sitting on the couch in complete silence for a couple of minutes, Roxas managed to piece together some of the pirate's mumbling from his memory.

_Now...bring...brunette...back...Dark Doom...show...him...captain...depart...soon..._

Roxas opened his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows, "This doesn't make any sense..."

"What doesn't, Roxas?" Olette questioned.

"I faintly remember what one of the pirates had said before I lost consciousness...but it doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe it doesn't right now, but maybe if you repeat everything you remember...it'll come back to you."

"Naminé's right, man. And we'll try to help too!" Hayner responded.

Roxas nodded and tried to repeat everything, "Now. bring. brunette. back. dark. doom. show. him. captain. depart. soon."

"They might want to show Sora off to their captain...but which captain and where would they be?" Naminé added.

Olette crossed her arms across her chest, "All the ships should be in the Harbor...but which ship though?"

"Wait...isn't '_Dark Doom_' a pirate ship?" Pence asked.

"Yeah! It is. So I guess that's where the group of no-good-brother-thieving pirates are heading back to."

Suddenly it all clicked in Roxas's head. His eyes widen and he immediately bolted off of the couch.

"THEIR TAKING SORA BACK TO THEIR SHIP--THE DARK DOOM--SHOWING HIM TO THEIR CAPTAIN AND THEIR DEPARTING THE HARBOR SOON!!!"

After his statement, Roxas ran out of the restaurant in a full sprint. His friends followed him out the door, but didn't dare go any farther to catch up to their friend.

"ROXAS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Hayner yelled from the restaurant.

"I'M NOT LETTING THEM GET AWAY WITH THE ONLY FAMILY MEMBER I HAVE LEFT!!!"

Olette, Hayner, Pence, and Naminé just looked at each other with the oddest expression. Then they looked over at their quickly fading friend, who was running off towards the Harbor. Tifa came outside of the restaurant and stood with them watching the little blond boy disappear into the moonlight.

"You know, I'm really gonna be worried about that kid."

"Yeah, but Roxas knows what he's doing. So he'll be alright." Olette smiled.

"Pssht. Yeah...only sometimes when he doesn't forget his brain." Hayner said before being hit by Olette, "Ow!"

Pence looked at the two fighting, "Hey! Take it easy you guys!"

"I'm sure Roxas will be just fine. But all we can really do is pray that he comes back safely."

All of them looked at Naminé, who continued to look at the empty street. They nodded at her comment and prayed that Roxas would come back with Sora. Both safe and unharmed...hopefully.

xXxXx


	4. The Switch

Woohoo! I am finally out of school for the break, which means more time to update this story :D Anyways, while I was gone...I managed to gain three new reviews! Yay!

Big thanks to: **xWhisperWolfx**, **The happiest emo on earth**, and **XAxel's Memory RemainsX**

You readers/reviewers make my life completely. (HEARTS)

Well, here's chapter four! Enjoy!

:D

* * *

xXxXx

As Roxas reached the Harbor, he slowed down to a light jog and tried to look for the ship that contained his brother. He eventually got to the end of the rows of ships and still didn't find anything. Roxas's heart sunk in his chest. Maybe he was too late to save Sora...maybe they had already departed from the shore before Roxas had realized where Sora might be.

"No...it can't be..." Roxas muttered.

He felt his eyes well up with tears. First his parents were taken away from these bandits and now Sora too. Roxas felt like he could just die right then and there. He wiped away the tears that streamed from his eyes and noticed two silhouettes walking out of a bar and towards the shipyard. Roxas quickly hid behind a stack of barrels and silently watched closely. As the silhouettes became clearer, he instantly recognized them as Sora's kidnappers. The short blond-haired pirate with multiple piercing and the black-haired, scarred pirate with the eye patch.

"Oy, Xiggy. What time did the capt'n say we'd have to get back on the ship?" The blond one spoke to the other in a sort of slurred way.

"I dunno...but I suppose we better be heading back pretty soon..."

"Right then." The blond paused for a moment, "Now which one was it again, Xiggy?"

The other stopped in front of the ship which was inches from where Roxas was positioned.

He let out an exasperated sigh, "It's this ship...I knew you shouldn't have gone to the bar and drank so much."

"Awh c'mon, Xiggy. What's one little drink, ehh?" The blond draped an arm on the other's shoulder.

"Apparently everything," Xiggy swatted the arm away, "And stop calling me 'Xiggy'. It's Xigbar."

"But what about ol' what's-his-face...did we leave 'im at the bar?"

"You mean the new guy, Ven? He should be coming pretty soon. In the meanwhile, let's get back on the ship."

"Right-o, Xiggy!"

"Stop that!"

Then Xigbar and the blond-haired pirate boarded the ship. Roxas was thankful that those two pirates were there to help guide him to the right ship. He committed that ship to memory before running off towards the bar that the pirates had come out of.

When Roxas entered the bar, the stench of the room quickly swept towards his face. The room smelt like pirates that had not bathed in years, rum, and smoke from either a couple of cigars or cigarettes. All these different smells were starting to give Roxas a killer headache. He needed to find Ven as quickly as possible and leave this place.

* * *

Ven was sitting in a corner of the bar with his two best friends, Terra and Aqua. They were all laughing and having a drink before Ven had to go back to the ship and leave his friends for another year or so. Ven looked at the clock that hung above the station where the bartenders were. Then he looked around for the two other pirates he came here with. Both of them were gone. He let out an audible sigh. 

"What's up, Ven?" Terra looked over at him.

"I have to leave soon...and go back to that ship."

"Awh! Ven why did you become a pirate in the first place? I mean we never get to see you anymore since you joined." Aqua whined.

"I know. I know. I'm gonna miss y'all too." Ven stood up from his chair and finished his 4th shot, "If only there were some miracle that happened so I could stay with you guys..."

"Ven!" another voice from the bar called to him.

Ven turned around and saw another young man about his age that looked exactly like him. Terra and Aqua looked at their friend, then this other guy, and were obviously really confused.

"Okay, I know I had a couple of drinks...but not so much that it would make me see two Vens." Terra stated.

"Its okay, Terra. You're not going insane...you may be drunk...but not insane. This is my cousin Roxas, who looks strangely enough like my twin."

"The second Ven is cute too." Aqua commented.

Ven immediately began to blush at her comment. Roxas rolled his eyes and grabbed Ven by his jacket.

"Ven, I need to talk to you and fast. Follow me."

Roxas left the table and walked towards the restrooms with Ven following right behind him, leaving Terra and Aqua by themselves at the table. Terra shook his head and tried to convince himself that he wasn't seeing doubles.

* * *

Roxas led Ven into a vacant men's restroom. Ven shut the door and stared at his cousin who seemed to have a hard time breathing due to the stench inside the bar. The restroom was definitely meant for one person at a time. Roxas was standing inches in front of the toilet, the sink was directly to his left, the wall was directly to his right, and Ven was literally right in front of him. Ven was so close to him that he could smell the alcohol in Ven's breath. 

"Ven, how many drinks have you had?"

"Just a couple, but what's that gotta do with anything?"

"Your breath just bothers me..."

"Well, then why the hell did you stuff both of us in this damn restroom if you didn't like my breath?" Ven could feel his 4th shot kicking in.

"Ven! That's beside the point. Anyways, I want to talk to you about Sora."

"Wassup with 'im?"

Roxas paused a moment. Ven's breath was really getting to him for some reason. His head started pounding like his brain was about to explode.

"What's wrong, Rox?"

Roxas shook his head, "Your breath...that's what."

"I s'pose you want a taste of my last drink, eh?" Ven leaned in closer to Roxas.

"Absolutely not!" Roxas retorted and pushed Ven away, "I'm not interested in kissing my drunken cousin. I definitely do **NOT** swing that way. But that's not why I'm in this damned place stuck in the damn restroom with my drunken cousin! It's because of Sora. He's been kidnapped by pirates...to be more specific, the pirate crew that you joined last year."

"Ahh. Well, what's that gotta do with me and you stuck in here?"

"I was wondering if I could pretend to be you and try to save Sora while you stay here in Port Royal."

"Wow. It's like a miracle happened. I swear...I was just talking to Terra and Aqua about wanting to stay here."

"So you will do it?"

"For you? Of course!" Ven's face lit up, "But you can't go on board the ship dressed like that."

"Then what would you suggest? You're drunk! I bet nothing that comes out of your mouth would make any sense..."

"You and I have to swap clothing."

Roxas looked straight at his cousin, "That's probably the most brilliant thing you've said so far. But if you try to go too far while we're swapping, I'll kick you where it hurts...Got that?"

Ven took off his jacket and smiled, "Fair enough."

He threw the shedded jacket onto the floor and then continued from there. Roxas reluctantly did the same. When both boys were stripped to just their boxers and the other's clothes were sitting in a pile for them to swap, Ven began to laugh a bit. Roxas looked at him with curiosity.

"What?"

Ven was still laughing, "I just think it's funny that you and me are stripped down to our boxers and we're in this really small restroom..."

"Ven!" Roxas began blushing profusely.

He turned on the sink that was to the left of him and splashed some water on Ven. That was the alcohol in Ven doing all the talking and Roxas hoped that "drunk" Ven wasn't planning anything else.

"Hey! I was just kidding." Ven said with a goofy smile.

After Ven's...awkward...comment, both boys got dressed in the others' clothes in silence. Ven was the first one dressed with Roxas's shirt, pants, and shoes completely on. Unfortunately, Ven's "pirate" clothes were a bit too complicated for Roxas, which made him the last one to get dressed. Roxas was balancing on his right leg so that he could tie Ven's left shoe on his foot without sitting on the toilet. He slightly lost his balance and fell forward, pushing Ven up against the restroom wall and himself positioned right against Ven, pinning him. Roxas opened his eyes and noticed that he and Ven was nose-to-nose. Ven smiled a bit and looked at his cousin.

"I thought you didn't 'swing' that way, Rox."

Roxas quickly got off of Ven and started blushing again, "I definitely do not swing that way, Ven! It was an accident!!"

"Sure, it was Rox." Ven smirked at him and opened the restroom door, "Shall we?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and exited the restroom with Ven, once again, following right behind him.

* * *

They made their way back to the table where Terra and Aqua were sitting at. Ven sat down at the table with Terra and Aqua, pretending to be Roxas. 

"Hey Ven, aren't you supposed to be leaving?" Ven asked the real Roxas.

The real Roxas, who was dressed up as Ven, looked at the real Ven with his eyebrows raised, "Huh?"

"Isn't the ship about to leave soon? I mean that's what you told me when I pulled you away from Terra and Aqua just to talk to you in private."

Roxas looked at Ven and saw that he had scooted closer to Aqua. "Roxas" was making flirty faces with her and was basically sweet-talking to her. Then it clicked in the real Roxas's head, Ven was trying to trick his friends into believing that he is actually Roxas and Roxas was actually Ven. The real Roxas had a feeling that Ven had wanted to experiment with Aqua to see which guy she preferred, Ven or Roxas. Maybe it was because of Aqua's comment earlier that the "second" Ven was cute as well.

Roxas inwardly quirked his eyebrows and thought, "So that's the way Ven wants to play...well, Roxas can play that game too."

"So, I guess this is goodbye for now." Terra was about to get up from his chair.

"Ven" put his hand on Terra's shoulder and forced him to sit back down in his chair. He looked over at "Roxas" with a certain look of lust in his sky-blue eyes. Terra looked up at "Ven" in confusion. "Ven" sat in Terra's lap and seemed to straddle the brunette.

"Why are we saying 'goodbye', hmm? I'll always be here..." He placed his finger right where Terra's heart was located, "Right in there..."

"Roxas" and Aqua had their attention on both "Ven" and Terra. Aqua just figured that "Ven" just had more drinks than he could handle while "Roxas" was slightly horrified. Terra began to blush a bit, but it was not noticeable to the others due to the dim lighting in the bar. "Ven" cupped Terra's cheeks with his hands and crashed his lips onto the other's. Terra's eyes widened at "Ven's" actions, but they slowly began to close as he allowed "Ven" entrance into his mouth. This was personally what the real Roxas would consider a "little too far" especially for someone who "didn't swing this way", but he was just getting back at his cousin...so he supposed it was a fair game. "Ven" could still taste the left-over alcohol in Terra's mouth as he used his tongue to search every part of it. "Roxas" stared at "Ven" in shock; this was going to be a mouthful to explain once "Ven" left for the ship. "Ven" slowly pulled away from his kiss and looked over at "Roxas" with a little smirk as the slightly inebriated Terra tried to grasp the situation. Using the back of his hand, "Ven" wiped his mouth and got off of Terra's lap.

"Well, I better head back for the ship before they depart without me. See you guys later!"

"Ven" slipped a little wink at "Roxas" before he turned on his heels and walked towards the doors.

Terra was slightly confused about what had just happened, "Wait...so Ven has feelings for me?"

"Either that or he was a little too drunk..." Aqua giggled.

"I do **NOT** have those kinds of feelings for you, Terra!" Roxas exclaimed.

Terra and Aqua looked at "Roxas" in confusion. "Roxas" let out an exasperated sigh before telling them the truth.

"That really wasn't Ven. Truthfully that was Roxas dressed like me. And I'm Ven...dressed like Roxas."

"So...Roxas has feelings for me?"

"No, Roxas doesn't have feelings for you...it was just him trying to get back at me..."

Terra paused for a moment and smirked, "Does that mean **YOU** have feelings for me?"

"NOOOO!!" Ven whined and kind of secretly denied.

xXxXx


	5. On board the ship & down Memory Lane

I'm so sorry that I didn't update this sooner! **D: **I was planning on updating this on the 25th as a Christmas present for all of you guys. But I guess that didn't work out like I had planned...unfortunately. Anyways, since it's New Years Eve...I suppose this chapter can be soething for the new year. I mean it'd be cool to read a **NEW** chapter in the **NEW** year, right? (is being really lame)

Here's a thanks to all of my newest reviewers: **Plain Jane Is A Vampire**, **medayugiohman**, and **Colonel Roxas-chan**.

Only...a couple more hours until 2008! It's been a great year 2007...

Well, enjoy! **:D**

**I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEARS! **(HEARTS!)

* * *

xXxXx

After finally breaking away from the bar, Roxas walked out of the doors and was greeted by a breeze of fresh air. He had actually gotten so used to the stench of the bar that the breeze was something entirely new to him. Roxas walked down the paved streets and towards the _Dark Doom_. He noticed that most of the ship's cabins were illuminated by the light of a candle. As he got closer to the ship, Roxas noticed that the silhouette of a boy with spiky hair was pacing in one of the rooms. Roxas figured that the possibility for that room being the captain's quarters was highly doubtful because of its location, which was far away from the middle of the ship. He walked a little closer to the ship until he was right underneath the circular-framed windowsill. Roxas swallowed the lump in his throat, put his hands at the base of the window, and pulled himself up in order to see inside of the room.

"Sora!"

Sora stopped pacing the room and looked around. Eventually, he ended up turning towards the window and walked over to it. Roxas's arms gave out as Sora came closer to the window causing him to fall back onto the deck. Sora managed to catch a glimpse of blonde hair disappearing down. He opened the window and stuck his head outside.

"Huh...I could have sworn that I saw someone..." Sora mumbled.

"Psst! Sora!" Roxas whispered.

"Huh? Who is there?"

"Look underneath the window!"

Sora looked below him and there Roxas or someone who closely resembled him at least, "Ven?"

"No! Can't you tell the difference between your cousin and your own brother?!" Roxas hissed at him.

"Well, I'm sorry you two look alike! And you're dressed like him for crying out loud. Dressed like a bloody pirate..."

"This was the only plan I had in order to save you...dress up like Ven, get on board the ship, and save your ass from these pirates. Now, shut up and move over so I can climb through the window."

"Honestly, if the window were big enough...don't you think I would have escaped by now?"

Roxas had not thought of that yet. Unfortunately, that plan of entrance wasn't going to work like he had imagined. Darn it.

"Plus, wouldn't the other pirates find it weird that you are in here with me without any orders?"

"...You have a point there..." Roxas thought for a moment and whined, "Jeez, Sora! You take the fun out of everything!"

Sora smiled down on his younger brother as he watched Roxas stumble up the ramp onto the ship.

"Why are you walking like that? It's almost like you were drunk..."

Roxas turned around to look at him, "I found Ven at the bar with a couple of friends...whenever we get out of here...remind me to kick his ass for it...if my ass isn't kicked first."

Sora laughed a bit as he retreated from the window. Roxas continued climbing the ramp and then finally climbed aboard. The deck of the ship was empty; there were no other crew members to be found. Roxas assumed that they were all in their cabins probably trying to sleep before the ship's departure from the Harbor. He stood idly on the middle of the deck before a voice had snapped him back to reality.

"Hey you!"

Roxas's eyes immediately widened as the pirate came closer to him.

The pirate was a slender young man about a year or two older than Roxas. He was obviously a lot taller than him too. The pirate had an amazing amount of crimson-red spikes that were absolutely beautiful. That wasn't the only thing that Roxas had noticed about this pirate. He also noticed the other's mesmerizing jade eyes and the two small black diamond-shaped tattoos underneath each eye. Roxas could stare at them all day if he actually "swung that way".

"Where have you been, Ven?"

"Uhh...uuhh..."

The red-haired pirate quirked his eyebrow and crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.

"_Oh crap...think, Roxas, think!_" Roxas thought.

Just then, Roxas felt his head throb from his previous headache that he thought he had lost after leaving the bar. His temples began pulsing, as he fell on his knees in pain.

"Hey--Ven? Are you okay?" The pirate questioned.

Roxas collapsed onto the wooden deck, with the red-haired pirate trying to shake him back to consciousness.

* * *

"Uggh...What--"

Roxas looked around at his surroundings and found absolutely nothing, except for a blinding white area.

"Why is everything so...white? Where am I?"

He slowly got up from the white floor and walked around for a bit. Suddenly, the white surrounding seemed to transform itself. Roxas used both of his arms to shield his eyes from the blinding light it emitted while transforming. Once it was done transforming, he let his arms fall to his sides and he began looking at the new surrounding.

"No way..."

Roxas found himself in his and Sora's bedroom back at the old house. He looked over at the two beds that were located in the room. One had a gummi-ship designed duvet, while the other had a bright yellow duvet. On the bright yellow bed, there was a tiny brown teddy bear sitting comfortably against the pillow. Roxas smiled as he looked over at the teddy bear. Just then, another Roxas entered the room. Only this Roxas was about seven years old.

"C'mon, Roxas! Hurry up before all the candle wax gets on the cake!" an eight year old Sora came running in the room and left as quickly as he came.

"But I wanted Mr. Cuddles to be there too."

The smaller Roxas waddled towards the yellow bed, climbed on top of it, and grabbed Mr. Cuddles by the paw. He snuggled the bear closer to his body before hopping off of the bed, running out the door, and towards the kitchen. The older Roxas followed his younger self out into the kitchen. Inside the kitchen, Sora was impatiently bouncing up and down in his chair. Next to him was their mother and father. Their father had spiky blonde hair and vivid greenish-blue eyes, while their mother had calm green eyes and long brown hair that was tied in a braid with pink ribbons weaved in it.

"Happy Birthday, sweetie!"

"Wow!! This cake looks awesomeee!!"

"About time you got here! I'm dying for the cake mom made!" Sora whined.

"Now, now, Sora. You have to be patient." Their mother patted Sora on the head.

"Come on, Aerith...Sora's just excited to eat your fabulous cake."

"Cloud, we have to wait until Roxas makes his wish."

The younger Roxas climbed onto the unoccupied chair that his parents were surrounding. He stared at the fire was on top of the seven candles on his birthday cake. Thinking to himself, the younger Roxas used his small 7 year-old mind to try and figure out what he wanted to wish for before blowing out the candles. Once he had his wish, he filled up all the air that he could into his lungs and blew out the candles.

"Finally!" Sora exclaimed as Aerith cut the cake and handed him a piece.

"Hey kiddo, guess what I got you?"

"What did ya get me, daddy?" Roxas asked eagerly.

Cloud pulled out a small black box and opened it for the seven year old. The box contained two small earring studs in the shape of the lion on Cloud's shoulder armor. Young Roxas couldn't take his eyes off of the lions. He put his tiny hand on the earring stud that was currently in his left ear and took it out, setting it on the table.

"But, daddy...I only have one ear hole...and there is two earrings."

Cloud smiled, "That's fine Rox."

"OH OH OH! Does that mean I get the other one?" Sora bounced up and down in his chair.

"Sora, you don't even have your ear pierced."

"Then I'll get my ear pierced, mommy!"

Aerith smiled at her rambunctious son. Young Roxas continued to stare at the two lions. He noticed that both of the lions had eyes that were a different colored crystal than its twin.

"Hey, dad. Why does one lion have sapphire eyes and the other has ruby eyes?"

"What?" Cloud looked closely at the lions and chuckled, "Well, look at that...they do have different colored eyes."

"OOOOOHHH! I want the one with sapphire eyes!" Sora cooed.

Younger Roxas nodded at Sora's comment and took the ruby-eyed lion. Even though it was his birthday, he really didn't care which earring he ended up with. Actually, Sora's comment helped Roxas pick his earring because they were both such pretty colors he probably would have taken forever to pick just one. Roxas put the earring in his ear and looked up at his father.

"How does it look, daddy?"

"It looks wonderful." Cloud smiled and ruffled younger Roxas's hair.

The older Roxas smiled as he watched from the kitchen door with his right shoulder against the doorway. He missed spending time with his mother and father. Roxas turned his back towards the old memories of his mother, father, and brother. He walked back through the kitchen doorway towards the living room, as it transformed back into the blinding white area.

xXxXx


	6. I'm telling Sora on you

Woot! New chapter. I dunno, but for some odd reason this chapter took a lot longer to write and get out. I think it was because of coming back to school...and studying like hardcore for exams. **D:** And a mix of not being able to produce an idea...and end up playing either Final Fantasy VII for the PS or Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS. And it's pretty sad to say that it's my first time playing either of those games. (sweatdrop) Both of which, I borrowed from my freakin' awesome friends. I'm not sure they'll get these games back though. (evil smile) But enough of my ranting...

Just wanted to take a moment to thank these awesome reviewers: **Plain Jane Is A Vampire**, **Xangel1holicX**, **Imeralt Evalon**, **Lifes.Lover**, and **DreamlessRiver**

Thanks so much for being patient with me! So, as a reward...this chapter is pretty long. (i think so at least...) I really need to stop with the flashbacks...don't you think?

Well, here's Chapter 6. Enjoy!! **:D**

* * *

xXxXx

Roxas woke up with the sunlight from the window on his face. He sat up in the bed that he was currently sleeping in. Wait...bed? Roxas looked around to find that the room and the other bed were empty. Just then, there was a knock on the door and the red-haired pirate walked into the room.

"Knock, knock..." He said with a smirk.

"What's going on?"

"Ahh...besides the fact that you collapsed last night and completely missed us departing this morning..."

"What?"

"I s'pose all of those drinks made you forget, hmm?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Xigbar told me that he had gone out to the bar with you and Luxord. The funny thing was that Xigbar and Luxord came back a couple hours later without you. In fact, maybe about an hour later...you decided to come back to the ship and then just randomly pass out on the deck. If it weren't for me, Xemnas would have seen you and you could've kissed your sorry-drunken-ass goodbye. So, don't think you can bullshit me with any lame excuses saying that you were not drinking..."

Roxas furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to stare at the red-head. He had gotten most of the tale correct...except that Roxas really wasn't Ven and his cousin was the one that was out getting drunk, not him. Who was this guy anyways? Roxas assumed from the pirate's tone of voice that this was either some worried roomie or Ven's mother. He inwardly shuddered at the thought. No way was some red-haired pirate going to be his "mother"...that's what Sora was there for.

"Fine, you caught me. I did go out with them...just to see a couple of old friends." Roxas rolled his eyes, "And I did end up drinking a bit...but not a lot though!"

He seemed to have given the exact answers that the pirate had wanted since last night. Roxas pulled the covers off of his legs and got off the bed. As soon as his feet had touched the wooden floor, Roxas could hear his stomach emitting cries of hunger. Unfortunately, the red-head's ears had caught the sound of the other's roaring stomach and he grinned.

"Sounds like you're hungry, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah...whatever." Roxas really wasn't in the mood to talk to this...oppressive pirate.

"If you're quick enough, you might be able to catch Riku in the kitchen before he runs off somewhere."

The pirate left the room to resume his tasks that had been set out for him earlier that morning. Roxas pondered whether he should follow the other's advice or not. With an obnoxious roar coming from his stomach, he quickly made his bed and scurried down the hallways that, hopefully, led towards the kitchen.

* * *

"There. All done." Riku sighed contently looking at the spotless kitchen.

He had just finished making breakfast for the crew, serving it, collecting the dishes once the others were done, and washing them. He also managed to clean up the kitchen too. Riku let out a yawn as he stretched from all of his hard work. Finally, he could concentrate on something else--that was the case...until a certain little blond haired boy burst through the kitchen door.

"G'morning..."

"Morning, Riku! Holy crap...I have seen you since--"

"...yesterday?" Riku rolled his eyes, "What would you like for breakfast--or lunch, if you'd rather."

"I dunno...surprise me, I guess?"

Riku looked at Roxas in shock, something was obviously wrong with the blond kid because he would normally just order his usual pancake and coffee combo if he was ever late for breakfast. He shook his head and began cooking some sunny-side up eggs for the other boy.

"You know, there is some coffee left in the pot if you want it."

"Naah. I'll just fix myself a cup of tea, thanks."

"Wait..." Riku paused and looked over at Roxas, "since when did you drink tea?"

"Uhh...I dunno. Just had I random craving for it, I guess."

Both boys stood in silence as Riku continued making Roxas's breakfast. Roxas grabbed a glass from one of the shelves, filled it up with hot water, and then stuck a tea bag into the glass. He pulled the string that was attached to the bag up and down as it began to turn the water into a light caramel color. After tasting his tea, Roxas decided that he wanted sweeter tea today. So he grabbed the small bowl of sugar and added some into his tea. By the time he had gotten his tea to taste the way he wanted, Riku was done with his eggs and set the plate in front of the blond boy.

"Thanks." He said politely to the silver-haired boy.

Riku smiled faintly and continued looking at the blond from across the counter. For some strange reason, "Ven" wasn't acting too much like he did previously. Normally, he was pretty obnoxious, as opposed to today. Roxas noticed that Riku was indeed staring at him; hopefully he would not notice that Roxas was Roxas and not Ven. He continued to eat his plate of eggs as the sunlight suddenly shone through the window and right onto Roxas's face again. Riku noticed a slight sparkle near the blond's ear when the sunlight hit him.

"You're not Ven...Are you?" Riku asked.

"Huh?" Roxas swallowed the eggs, "What are you talking about?"

"You're not Ven."

"...What makes you say that?"

"First of all, Ven usually is obnoxious towards me whenever he wakes up after breakfast. Second, Ven never drinks tea...it's usually coffee, water, or alcohol. Third, Ven doesn't tell me to 'surprise' him with any choice of breakfast."

"And how do you know how I should act?" Roxas retorted.

"It's a usual routine for him and you obviously aren't him. Now, that we've figured that out...who are you?"

Roxas remembered that Riku was a very smart and observant kid when they were little. It was too bad that he could not pull this charade off in front of Riku. Roxas at least wanted to give it a shot and remained silent, not answering Riku's question.

"I'm going to ask you again..." his voice lowered, "Who are you?"

"..."

One moment, Roxas was looking at his eggs and ignoring Riku. And the next, he was slammed into the kitchen wall--at least he wasn't pushed up against the kitchen counters. That would have been...weird. Riku was obviously losing his patience with the blond.

"Who are you?!"

"If you really must know..."

Roxas smirked as he slowly slid down to the ground. He felt a slight jolt of pain running down his spine from being rammed into the wall. Riku stared at the younger blond, who was now just smirking at him. Roxas's vivid blue eyes kept their contact with the silver-haired boy's blue-green eyes. And as the blond seemed to respond with his answer, Riku noticed that the boy in front of him was suddenly a lot younger. The blond was now about 8 years-old and continued to stare at him with his bright blue eyes, messy hair that stuck out oddly, and the lion earring in his left ear.

"I'm telling Sora on you."

* * *

_Roxas opened the front door and saw Riku standing outside. Riku smiled at the younger boy._

_"Afternoon, Roxas."_

_"Hey Riku! Oh, I suppose you wanna hang out with Sora, right?"_

_The silver-haired boy nodded at the blond. Roxas looked down at his feet, not knowing what to tell the other boy. Luckily for him, Aerith came from their bedroom with an empty bowl, which once contained soup, in her hands. She saw Riku and smiled warmly._

_"Hello, Riku."_

_"Hi, Mrs. Strife. Can Sora come out and play today?"_

_"I'm sorry, but Sora's sick with a cold."_

_Riku mouthed a slight 'oh' as Aerith continued towards the kitchen. Roxas looked at Riku, who was slightly disappointed that his best friend was sick and couldn't hang out with him. Both boys kind of stood in silence for a while. They both could hear Aerith beginning to wash the dishes and Sora's obnoxious cough over the running water. Riku softly scoffed._

_"It must really suck being sick, huh?"_

_"Yeah..."_

_"Hey, I've got an idea." Riku looked at Roxas, "Why don't you and I hang out today?"_

_"Really?"_

_"Of course! Just because Sora's sick doesn't mean we can't have any fun."_

_Roxas nodded at the 10 year-old's brilliant idea, "Alright."_

_He called into the house to inform his mother that he was going to hang out with Riku and told Sora to get well soon. Roxas stepped out of the house and walked with Riku down the streets of __Port Royal__. The sun was shining brightly down onto the two boys. As they walked towards the stairs that led to the Harbor, they ran into another boy, who was standing on top of a stack of barrels. He was about Sora's age--if not younger, had sparkling blue eyes--that weren't as vibrant as Roxas and Sora, sandy brunette hair, uneven shorts, sandals, and a yellow and white-sleeved jacket--that probably shouldn't even be considered a jacket since it left his whole chest and stomach area exposed. The kid was awfully lucky that it wasn't winter..._

_"Hey Riku and Roxas!" The boy chirped._

_"Hi ya, Tidus!" _

_Riku stared at the object in Tidus's hand, "What are you up too?"_

_"Oh this?" Tidus looked at the wooden sword in his hand, "Ah, just doing a little bit of sparring. In case pirates come, I can fiend them off...or easily become one of the toughest pirates around!" _

_"Pffht. Uh-huh, sure you will, Tidus." _

_"Is that a challenge, Riku?"_

_"And if it is?"_

_"Come on, Riku! You can take him!"_

_Tidus jumped off of the tower of barrels he was standing on, landed on the ground in front of Riku and Roxas, and ran inside his house for a brief moment. He came back outside with not only one wooden sword for Riku, but another one for Roxas...in case he wanted to join in the "duel" later. Tidus tossed both of the swords to its new owner and continued to stare at Riku._

_"Alright. All of us are properly armed...let's get this challenge going, shall we? Loser has to admit that they are not worthy of being a pirate."_

_Riku raised his eyebrow, "That's it?"_

_"Yeah...I mean what else is there to add?"_

_"I know!" Roxas chirped, "Loser has to treat winner to ice cream!"_

_Tidus smiled widely, "I like that idea!"_

_"Fair enough..." Riku looked over at Roxas, "Hey, uhh...Roxas. I think you better sit this one out."_

_"Awh...okay."_

_The little blond boy pouted as he watched the two other boys begin their sparring match. _

_---_

_After about half an hour of sparring, Riku and Tidus finally started to show signs of slowing down the match to some sort of end. Roxas had grown tired of watching them, so he just sat down and began drawing little pictures in the dirt pavement, only to glance up at every other yell or shout coming from the two of them. _

_Riku and Tidus somehow managed to climb on top of a whole wall of wooden boxes. Each boy was on his own tower of boxes and was still able to fight while staying balanced on it. A bead of sweat rolled down Tidus's forehead and off the tip of his nose. His eyes remained locked on to Riku's eyes. Roxas noticed that some of the boxes at the bottom of each tower had its edge almost completely off of the box underneath it. The tower of boxes began to slightly sway from the right and then back to the left. _

_Tidus's energy level was beginning to drop down rapidly. As a result of the last attack, he fell down to one knee. Riku noticed this as he lifted his sword and arm up to deliver the final blow of the match. Tidus brought his sword up sideways above his face and held it with both hands in order to at least block the attack. As the silver-haired boy shifted his weight onto his other foot, the boxes Roxas had noticed earlier finally gave in to the movements of the boys above. The towers began to collapse._

_"Whoa!" Tidus yelped, feeling the boxes below him tremble._

_"We have to get off of these quickly!!" _

_Riku quickly jumped off of his box and landed on top of the more stable wall of boxes next to it. Tidus jumped off of his tower before it collapsed and landed on Riku's previous tower, which started to collapse the moment his feet had touched the top. Tidus was about to fall down towards the rapidly growing pile of boxes and out of no where, he felt Riku's hand grip tightly around his wrist. Riku pulled Tidus up on to the wall that he was on. Both boys looked at each other and smiled. _

_"That was close, huh?" Tidus asked, bending over to catch his breath._

_"Yeah, a little too close..." Riku said, "Looks like you owe me some ice cream."_

_"Nah-uh! No way!" _

_"Come on, it was so obvious that you were on the brink on losing. Isn't that right, Roxas?"_

_The boys didn't hear a response from the tiny blond kid. _

_"Roxas?"_

_"Oh my god! What if Roxas didn't--"_

_Both of their eyes widened at the thought. _

_"ROXAS!!"_

_They ran down the staircase of boxes near the wall and towards the pile of boxes that was originally the two towers of boxes. Riku dropped his wooden sword and began digging through the pile with Tidus right next to him. _

_"Dudeee, someone's gonna kill us for this mess." _

_"No, Sora's gonna KILL us if Roxas is hurt! Shut up and keep searching!!"_

_The boys searched for about five minutes before they heard the voice of a certain 8 year-old ringing in their ears._

_"What are you guys doing?"_

_Riku and Tidus both looked up from the wreck of boxes and looked at the tiny blond. Roxas was greeted by a massive hug from both of them. _

_"Thank god, you're okay." Riku said._

_"Yeah! We would have had our butts handed to us if you weren't."_

_"...Guys...yooouu'reee squisshing meeee!!"_

_Both boys let go of their squished friend and laughed at the little guy's spunk. Riku wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and sighed in relief._

_"How about we play another game...a game away from any sort of box tower?"_

_"Sounds good to me!" Tidus exclaimed, "Ooohhh! Let's play a pirate game."_

_Riku rolled his eyes, "What kind of pirate game?"_

_"You're the evil pirate Captain Crusty-Butte. Roxas is going to be a captured sidekick named Pit and I am going to be the hero that saves him...I'll be Tidus the Great!" _

_"No way! What kind of name is Captain Crusty-Butte?!"_

_"Hey, I was being nice. I added an 'e' to the name so it'd be like Crusty-'Boot'. I could have just said Crusty-BUTT."_

_"That's it, hero. You're dead!!!"_

_"Oh no! Hurry, my trusty sidekick Pit! Captain Crusty-Butt is chasing us!" _

_---_

_Tidus the Great and his sidekick, Pit a.k.a. Roxas, were hiding behind some barrels. To make sure that Crusty-Butte was not after them, Tidus the Great stuck his head out from the side of his barrel. Captain Crusty-Butte was no where to be found. After being chased around the town by Crusty-Butte, they managed to 'steal' Crusty-Butte's crystal--which was actually just a plain rock--and made their way back to Tidus's house. Pit, looked past the barrels and saw the Captain roaming around near Tidus's house and let out a small gasp before tapping Tidus the Great. _

_"On the count of three, we're going to make a run for it." Tidus whispered._

_They waited until Captain Crusty-Butte had turned his back towards the barrels. _

_"OneTwoThree!"_

_Tidus counted quickly and began sprinting away from Crusty-Butte. Pit followed after Tidus the Great. Captain Crusty-Butte saw the two heroes emerge from the barrels and started running after them. Unfortunately, Pit's legs were not as long as Tidus the Great's legs. So, he had a bit of trouble keeping up with the brunette. Just then, Pit was lifted off of the ground. Captain Crusty-Butte had finally caught up to him! Pit was being held like a skateboard against Crusty-Butte's side._

_"Lemme go! Lemme go! Lemme gooo!" _

_Tidus turned around, "Oh my gosh! Pit!"_

_"Haha!" the captain laughed evilly, "Looks like I have your little sidekick. What are ye going to do now?"_

_"I'll tell you what I'm going to do..." Tidus pulled the wooden sword from his belt loop, "I'm going to fight you for his freedom!!"_

_"Foolish child. You can't possibly beat the infamous Crusty-Butte!"_

_As Tidus was about to get into a fight position, there was a slight interruption in their game of make-believe._

_"TIDUS!!"_

_Tidus winced at the voice that had called his name. All three boys looked over at the upstairs window of Tidus's house. Tidus's mother was leaning her upper body outside of the window, looking for her son. _

_"Yeah, mom?" _

_"Time to come into the house."_

_"Roxas was captured by Riku and I was just about to save him!"_

_"No, Tidus. You need to come up here and clean your room."_

_"But moooommmm!!" Tidus whined._

_"If you don't come and clean your room this instant, you will not be able to practice Blitzball with Wakka tomorrow."_

_Tidus's mother retreated back inside the house. Tidus looked at both Riku and Roxas with a slight frown on his face. He muttered something under his breath. Riku just smirked at the brunette. Roxas couldn't exactly hear what Tidus had murmured that had made Riku smile. Although, he did have a feeling it was something to do with his mother being a "fun-sucker" or something along the lines that his room was "clean". At least, this was according to Tidus--which he was basically a disorganized mess anyways._

_Tidus shrugged, "Yeah, well...I have to go clean my room now."_

_"Have fun with that." Riku replied._

_Tidus began walking towards his house and Riku put Roxas back down on the ground. He almost reached the front door before a slight spark jogged his mind on something he had previously forgotten._

_"Oh!"_

_He ran back to where Riku and Roxas were and began digging in his pockets for something. Riku quirked his eyebrows at the sight before looking down at Roxas, who just shrugged at Tidus's action. Tidus emitted a small "Ha!" once he had found that "something" in his pockets, after turning out each and every pocket in his uneven shorts. He handed Riku two small golden coins and smiled._

_"It's the munny for ice cream that I owed you from the match."_

_"No! Roxas was just kidding. I mean he wasn't serious about it."_

_Roxas looked at the silver-haired boy with a pout, "Yeah, I was. I want ice cream."_

_"Not helping..." Riku muttered, "No, seriously...keep it. It was only a joke."_

_Tidus looked at Riku and then to Roxas. Obviously, he was still confused, but he just smiled at gave it to Roxas...even though Riku strongly objected and tried to give it back to him._

_"Nah, keep it. It's a treat for making the little guy wait forever for us to finish the match." _

_Tidus walked back down the streets and once more towards his house. Roxas was thrilled that he had received money for ice cream. Riku stared down at the little blond with a slight frown. He shook his head at him._

_"You do realize that you are now paying for two ice creams since you insisted on taking the money?"_

_"Oh well, at least we can get ice cream!" The blond chirped._

_---_

_Roxas walked inside the ice cream store. A breeze swiftly came over his body from the Air Conditioner. He shivered slightly. Normally, the breeze would be very refreshing after playing all day in the sun, but seeing as how his clothes were still wet from playing in the ocean waters with Riku, he was freezing. Why couldn't the ice cream stores be at some lame booth outside on the beach?_

_"Two sea-salt ice creams, please." _

_

* * *

_

_After Tidus had given them the money, Riku and Roxas walked around town trying to think of a new idea to waste some more of the day away. Riku sat on his "thinking barrel", which was actually just a normal barrel sitting near the middle of the town that he liked to sit on, especially when trying to come up with new ideas for the day. Roxas sat on the sandy ground and began to draw little pictures into the dirt once more. They sat around like this for a good fifteen minutes, until Roxas thought that they should go to the beach. _

_The boys walked down the short stairway down to the beach. Roxas immediately was drawn towards the ocean's water like a metal needle attracted to a magnet. He kicked his sandals off of his feet and jumped right into the waves that were crawling up the beach. Of course, this got his legs wet with salt water from the knees down. Riku smiled as he thought about how funny it was that Roxas loved the water as opposed to his older brother, who would rather play in the sand than in the water. Roxas looked back at the silver-haired boy and smiled beckoning the other to join him in the water. Riku stood with the younger boy in the ocean water. As the sand slowly began to sink beneath their feet, Riku "accidentally" nudged into Roxas, which in turn resulted in Roxas falling into the water...face first. This had started a whole new "war" for the boys and wasted more of the day away._

_

* * *

_

_"That will be 10 munny." _

_Roxas dug his hand into his pockets and placed the coin in her hand. She smiled at him and handed Roxas both sea-salt ice creams before depositing the coin into the cash register. He walked out of the parlor with his ice cream and Riku's too. Riku opened the door for him and took the other ice cream from Roxas. They both headed back down towards the beach, this time was strictly for walking in the sand and no more contact with the water._

_"Did you use all of Tidus's munny?"_

_"No." Roxas paused to lick the blue ice cream, "I still have 5 munny left." _

_The boys continued to walk down the beach licking their ice cream. Roxas looked over towards the ocean and saw that the sun was beginning to lower in the sky._

_"My mom's not gonna be too happy that I'm eating ice cream before dinner...or the fact that I'm probably gonna be home after the sun goes down..."_

_"Hmm. Oh well, it's not like this happens everyday, ya know?"_

_Roxas nodded in agreement. It wasn't everyday that Sora was sick leaving Roxas and Riku to come up with things to do without him. The boys sat in the sand and watched the sun slowly set in the sky as they were eating their ice cream. The sun turned into a red-orange color that contrasted against the fading blue sky and the gray-ish clouds with a tint of salmon underneath them. Riku had finished his ice cream and looked at Roxas with the popsicle stick still in his mouth. _

_"You know, Roxas. Don't tell Sora this...but...this has been an awesome day without him."_

_The blond smiled, "I'm telling Sora on you!" _

* * *

Riku chuckled under his breath, "Wow...I can't believe it is you, Roxas."

"The one and only."

"Why the hell are you here? Finally trying to become a pirate, right?"

"Not exactly," Roxas said, "You see, I traded places with my cousin, Ven. He wanted to stay back at Port Royal in order to stay with his friends and I wanted to save Sora."

"Sora's on board too?!"

"Yeah, didn't you know that? I mean it's you're fellow crew-mates that attacked both of us just yesterday, knocked out both of us, and took Sora onto the ship."

"I didn't know that...Oh gosh! He must be starving by now! No one's asked me to make food for him yet."

Riku began to walk around the kitchen in search of an idea for something to make for Sora. After walking around the whole kitchen twice, Riku looked at Roxas for help.

"What should I make him? I mean I haven't seen him in years!"

Roxas raised his eyebrows, "Calm down, Riku. You're acting like it's a first date or something."

"Oh shut up! Just help me, please?"

"Fine, only if you help me with figuring out where everything is on this ship and who everyone is."

"Deal."

"Okay then. Just make him a plate of pancakes."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"..."

"It looks like you've forgotten how simple-minded Sora is." Roxas joked.

Riku smiled at him, "He hasn't changed much, has he?"

"Nope."

"Figures..."

xXxXx


	7. Day One

Hey guys! It's been literally **FOREVER **since my last update due to writer's block, truckloads of homework, and a buncha time consuming things...and I just want to apologize for that. (sweatdrop) Uhhh...yeah, I think that's all I have to say.

Big thanks to the following people: **Plain Jane Is A Vampire**, **Xangel1holicX**, **MrSpoonLovesYou**, and **Sarie Bear**

Enjoy!! **:D**

* * *

xXxXx

Sora looked out of the window in his "prison" and sighed. He tried to think about the positive things of being locked in a room as a prisoner. There was the bed that was fairly comfy, a window to look out of, a bathroom connected to the cabin, he wasn't tied up, he could actually walk around the room, and he had no idea where his little brother was at the moment.

Sora shook his head and thought, "Oh wait, that's a negative thing..."

He walked back towards the bed and just wrapped himself in the blankets. He didn't really feel like going back to sleep, but after his parents' death, he found that sleep was the only thing that could make him forget everything else in the world. Sora sighed and rolled over on the bed until he was facing the wall with his back turned onto the world. He suddenly heard some footsteps coming down the hall and two muffled voices. Of course, they only sounded like mumbling to him, so listening in on the conversation proved useless.

"How do I look?"

"Ridiculous. Why the hell are you asking me this!? Did you just dip your hair in lemon juice?"

"No, it's just a tiny transforming spell."

"You're a mage too?"

"Well...not really...Vexen taught me a few minor spells in case I needed it."

"What's wrong with just going in as you? Wait...I knew it! You're getting first date jitters, aren't you?"

"I have my reasons...and it's not 'first date jitters'. Don't you have something else to do?!"

"Nope, but let me know how this...thing...turns out."

The doorknob turned and the door opened, one of the voices that were outside the prison had entered the room. Sora didn't even bother to look over his shoulder to see who it was. He knew it was probably one of the pirates on the ship that was sent to give him food, but he didn't care much about it. Normally, Sora would have never turned down food, but with his little brother's safety on his mind, he didn't care about anything.

"I brought you some breakfast--well, technically its breakfast for lunch..."

Sora felt the bed sink down a little bit, due to added weight from the pirate. After he had felt a light touch on his shoulder, he turned his head so that he could see the intruder. The pirate had bleached blond hair and stunning sea-green eyes. Sora thought this pirate looked like his long-lost-best-friend's twin...maybe. The pirate smiled softly at the brunette.

"Is this how you're gonna spend your whole time here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Staying in bed all day."

"Well, honestly, there's not much to do when you're a prisoner is there?"

Riku chuckled inwardly, maybe Sora actually was smarter...after all, nine years is a long time for someone to change. Sora slowly began to sit up and he leaned his back against the headboard of the bed. He began staring at the pancakes. Riku handed the brunette the plate of pancakes. Sora looked up in confusion at the bleach-blond haired pirate.

"What? Do you think I'm just going to bring in a plate of pancakes and just torture you by not letting you eat them?"

Sora nodded in thanks as he began to eat the pancakes. After finishing one, he looked up at the pirate. Were pirates supposed to be _**THIS** _nice? Maybe the pirate had poisoned them before he handed them to him. If that were the case, he was screwed. Sora paused before planning to eat another one.

"Is there something wrong?"

"...why are you being so nice?"

"Come on now, not all pirates are mean and ruthless. Luckily for you, I'm one of the nice pirates." He laughed.

Sora smiled, "So, what's your name?"

Riku mentally froze; he hadn't thought of the name he was going to go by yet. Names were going through his head as he quickly tried to pick just one. Sora looked at the blond pirate, waiting patiently for his answer. Maybe he was debating on whether to tell him or not due to some "pirate" code...or something. The pirate's sea-green eyes looked back up into the brunette's clear blue eyes.

"My name is Dralem..."

"I'm Sora."

* * *

After leaving Riku with Sora, Roxas began exploring the rest of the ship. He tried to remember every name and description of everybody on board. It felt like cramming for a major exam the night before the test! Roxas sighed inwardly; being a pirate can't and shouldn't be _**THIS** _stressful. After the cram session with Riku, there was one name that seemed to stick in his mind more than any of the other names. It was the name of the damn obnoxious, asshole, red-haired pirate. Axel.

_"So, remember...the weird guy with the dreadlocks and obnoxious sideburns is Xaldin. And the really emo-looking one is Zexion. Be careful though, Zexion is like extremely observant and smart. I suggest you take off your earring...lest you have a reasonable story that 'Ven' would most likely come up with..."_

_"Hmm...You're probably right; I'll take off the earring." _

_"Good choice. You wouldn't want to risk getting exposed on the first day." Riku joked._

_"Shut up."_

_"I think I've covered just about everyone..."_

_"Hey, uhh..." Roxas paused for a moment, "who is that pirate with the fiery-red hair?"_

_"Oh, that's just Axel. You mean the guy with the green eyes and diamond tattoos underneath his eyes, right?"_

_"Yeah, that's him. Am I supposed to be rooming with him?"_

_Riku nodded his head and Roxas couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed. He was definitely rooming with THAT asshole..._

After wondering about the ship hallways for a while, Roxas could hear another set of feet running on the wooden floor after him. A voice was quickly followed by the footsteps.

"Hey Ven!"

Roxas turned around and saw a blond boy standing in front of him. His hair was styled quite oddly in Roxas's opinion. It was a sort of cross between a mullet and a faux-hawk, perhaps it was a faux-mullet-hawk. Roxas inwardly shrugged the trivial question off as he quickly tried to remember the boy's name. What was the name that Riku had told him? Roxas's thoughts momentarily switched back to the other's hair style. Wait...weird blond hair, eyes as blue as the ocean, looked too cheerful to be a pirate...this was definitely Demyx.

"Uhh...hey Demyx."

"Where have ya been? I was looking **EVERYWHERE** for you!"

"I was in the kitchen...helping out Riku."

"Ahh." Demyx nodded, "Hey, you got some free time on you right now?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

Demyx smiled at Roxas and continued walking down the hallway. Roxas was confused; was he supposed to follow Demyx just like that? He furrowed his eyebrows and continued to watch the other blond steadily disappear down the hall. Maybe Demyx was -in some weird way- telling Roxas to follow after him. Roxas sighed as he sprinted down the hallway in order to keep up with Demyx. Did all these pirates have as bad of communicating skills as the blond? Roxas prayed that Demyx was the only one like this.

The blond managed to lead Roxas up to another door. He put his hand onto the doorknob and turned it...or at least that was what Demyx had thought he had done. The doorknob stayed perfectly still as Demyx tried to push open the door, which resulted in a collision with the wooden door. Roxas quirked his eyebrow at the faux-hawked pirate. Demyx rubbed his forehead after detaching himself from the door. He then put a hand in one of his pockets and searched around for something. After coming empty-handed, Demyx shoved his hand into the other pocket.

"Awh man!!" Demyx whined, "I forgot my key again!"

Demyx pouted momentarily before flailing his arms wildly and pounding the hell out of the door. Roxas's eyes widened at Demyx's plan of action in order to get into the room. If the flailing arms weren't bad enough, Demyx began yelling.

"ZEXION! OPEN UP!! **PLEEEEEEEAAAASSSEEEEEE!!**"

After about a minute or so of Demyx's yelling and flailing, a pirate from inside opened the door. The pirate had slate colored hair that covered all of his face except for his left eye, nose, and mouth. He was also a bit shorter than Demyx. Azure eyes narrowed in anger towards the blond. Demyx head sank down in semi-embarrassment. Zexion was probably trying to take a nap after finishing his duties around the ship.

"Demyx..." the other growled, "when will you stop forgetting to take your key?"

"I dunno."

"You better pray that it be soon, or I will surely throw you and your sitar overboard."

"Sorry, Zex..." Demyx muttered, "Hey, I wanna play a new song that I wrote last night for you."

Zexion left the door open as he retreated back into the room. Demyx and Roxas followed him inside. They all took their respective place in the room; Zexion back onto his bed, Demyx sitting on the floor, and Roxas sitting on top of Demyx's bed. The slate-haired pirate closed his eyes and began massaging his temples. Demyx looked over at Zexion--before even thinking about grabbing his sitar--and bit his lip momentarily; he knew that Zexion was very frustrated at him right now. Maybe playing his new song wasn't such a great idea at the moment.

"Looks like you guys are finished...of course, I'm always the last one done with my job."

Axel popped his head inside the room before coming inside and taking a seat on the floor. He looked over at Demyx, who looked guilty of something, and then over to Zexion.

"Demyx forgot his key again, didn't he?"

* * *

"No way! I used to live there!!"

"Really?"

Riku looked over at Sora as the brunette nodded his head in response to the question. Of course, **RIKU** knew that Sora was born and raised on Destiny Island, but **DRALEM** didn't know that. Riku was dying on the inside. He hated this little 'charade'; he wanted to grab Sora's short-sleeved jacket and pull him closer to where their faces would be only a couple inches apart from each other and scream **"I'M NOT DRALEM...I'M RIKU! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT BENEATH THIS VERY OBVIOUS DISGUISE!?"** Even his auto-biography that he had been telling could have easily been picked out as a fake. But as always, Sora was still pretty oblivious to the whole thing. If only he had the guts --and permission--to tell Sora the truth.

"Well, I don't remember seeing you there though..."

_"Of course you don't remember seeing him at Destiny Island...YOU WERE NEVER THERE!!" _Riku's conscious nagged at him.

"I mean, it was a while back...I think I was two at the time before my family moved to Port Royal."

Riku snorted and lied once more, "Why would you're family move to Port Royal? It's all dark and murky as opposed to a bright and sunny Destiny Island..."

"Yeah, I know...but it was because my dad's job had relocated him there..."

After his last comment, Sora's face suddenly grew dim. He didn't have that natural glow upon his features like he usually did when he was happy. Sora's eyes went from looking at Riku to looking down at the wooden floor.

"I see..." Riku paused for a moment, "I suppose I better leave you alone now...I have some other tasks that need to be done."

Sora looked up at the bleach-blond pirate got off the bed and turned to leave the room. Riku reached inside his pocket and fished out a golden key that momentarily unlocked the door for him to exit. Sora sighed before returning his gaze to the uninteresting ground.

"It was nice meeting you, Sora."

Sora looked up at the pirate, who was smiling at him before turning the doorknob and opening the door. He smiled warmly back at the pirate.

"Right back at ya, Dralem."

Riku exited the room with the door locked behind him. A bittersweet feeling rose in his heart as the door shut. He snapped his finger and his bleach-blond hair returned to its original color. The silver-haired boy closed his eyes as a heavy sigh passed his lips. How could he continue living in a lie in front of his best friend--whom he hasn't seen in years?! Riku shook his head as he continued down the hallways and towards the kitchen. Maybe Roxas was having a better time living in his "lie" because he didn't know anybody on the ship from the beginning.

* * *

"It's about time you grew a **tongue**, Zexion."

"Well, it seems like you still have yet to grow a** brain**!"

Roxas continued to watch Axel and Zexion's on-going battle over what seemed like nothing at all. They were probably arguing about something important, but Roxas sort of spaced out during the middle of it. As for Demyx, he just ignored it from the start by taking his beloved sitar from its stand, laying it across his lap, and began polishing the instrument. Roxas looked at Demyx in confusion. Demyx just smiled and lightly shook his head.

Axel quirked his eyebrow, "Is that all you got?"

"You're an ass!"

"Obviously, you're running out of come-backs. I was getting bored of this conversation anyways."

With that said, Axel yawned before retreating back to his cabin. Both blonds looked over at the fuming slate-haired pirate before looking back at each other. Demyx shrugged and put his sitar back on its stand. While Roxas cleared his throat and quietly announced his leave. Demyx followed Roxas and stopped at the doorway.

"Hey, umm...I guess the usual applies here?"

"The usual?"

"Yeah, I attempt to cool off Zex and you try to cool Axel off." Demyx explained quietly, "I mean they both fight way too often so I guess it'd be a 'usual' routine by now."

"Uhh...sure."

"Awesome! See ya at dinner. Well, if Zex decides not to chunk me off the ship that is..."

"Right. See you then."

As Roxas strode down the hallway, he could hear Demyx's door close with a click. He sighed and hoped that Axel wouldn't be as moody compared to what Demyx had said about Zexion. Once he reached his and Axel's room, he noticed that the door wasn't closed all the way. Roxas looked through the crack between the door and the doorway, wondering what Axel was up too. Axel lie calmly on top of his bed with both eyes closed, as if he were mediating and napping at the same time. One would expect someone like Axel to unleash his hidden anger and trash everything in sight, but he was doing the exact opposite. Even though Roxas--officially--only knew the red-haired pirate for no more than a day, he definitely was at the top of Roxas's "weird" list. The door creaked a bit as Roxas slowly pushed it open. He immediately looked over at Axel and he was greeted by those vibrant emerald eyes.

"Sorry, if I woke you up from your...nap."

"Nah, it's cool. I wasn't really sleeping anyways...just trying to get a couple things off of my mind."

"Like that fight with Zexion?"

Axel paused for a moment, "No, that's definitely not one of them."

"That's weird," Roxas muttered quietly, "then why do you constantly get into fights with him?"

"I suppose it's due to our difference in personalities..."

"Right..."

"Well, if you're done interrogating me..." Axel smirked and got off of his bed, "would you care to join me for a quick stroll around the ship before dinner--and possibly cause some chaos while we're at it?"

"Sure, I guess..."

xXxXx


	8. Ahead on our way to Isle de Muerta

**Ahhh! I'm back again. Once more I made you poor readers wait on my stupid procrastination spell. I am honestly trying to update faster. I'm really sorry guys! (tear) Just think, in a couple of weeks I'll finally be out of school for summer and then I'll have all the time in the world to update!**

**In other unrelated news, I just came back from the movie theater. For those of you who are insane superhero buffs (fans) like I am, GO SEE _IRON MAN_! It's a freakin' AMAZING movieeee!! **

**Anyways, didn't get too many reviews this last time around, but it's all good.**

**Thanks a bunch to my singular reviewer: Aly-Cooper. (big hug)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters/places of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, Batman, Jonas Brothers, Veggie Tales, or anything. Only the idea to this story. (smile)**

**Enough of my rants...ENJOY! **

* * *

xXxXx

"Morning sleepy-head."

"Nnnhh..."

"You're such a lazy bum, Axel."

"Yeah...says the guy that's still curled up in his bed sheets as well..."

Roxas let out a small yawn as he kicked the covers off of his body. He sat on the edge of his bed and looked over at his roommate, who had barely moved since his last statement. The blond frowned at the other pirate and tried to think of a plan to get the other out of bed. The first plan of action was chucking a pillow at him. Roxas grabbed his pillow, but then put it back on the bed. The last time Roxas tried that resulted in "no-pillow privileges" for almost two nights.

"What? Have you given up al—**AAHH**!!" Axel's eyes widened in shock due to the added weight onto his own body, "**WHAT ARE YOU DOING**?!"

"I thought of a different way to get you out this time!"

"What, by tackling the hell outta me?!"

Roxas smiled and nodded as he was then pulled into a wrestling match with Axel. Hopefully, he would end up dragging Axel out of the room, instead of Axel obtaining more sleep and possibly drag him in as a sort of stuffed animal. The two boys struggled against one another for a couple of minutes as the bed sheets wrapped their bodies closer together. Roxas closed his eyes as he felt his head hit the mattress. Once he opened his eyes again, a shirtless Axel was on top of him, pinning a slightly blushing Roxas down.

"Looks like I win again."

The blond pouted at Axel's words. He was not planning on losing to the red-head again. Roxas wrapped his hands around Axel's wrists before trying to switch the positions. Naturally, Axel put up a resistance against Roxas's plan. They struggled once more; only a couple of seconds in the match for domination and both boys ended up rolling off the bed.

Axel hissed and closed his eyes tightly, "Ahh! That fucking hurt, Ven!!"

"So, that means I win, right?"

"Yeah, sure. My back hurts now..." Axel opened his eyes once more, "Oh wow."

Roxas's face was hovering inches above his own. Not to mention that the positions **DEFINITELY**did change. Axel was lying on the wooden floor and Roxas was now pinning him down. The sunlight from the window shone on Roxas's face, making his bright blue eyes sparkle and his face look almost angelic. The red-haired pirate was absolutely stunned, but he couldn't let the younger blond know that because it would be...awkward.

"Are you okay, Axel?"

"Well, other than the fact that this is kinda suggesting something. I mean, how we're positioned and all..."

The blond's eyes widened. He didn't realize that Axel's statement was completely correct. Roxas scrambled off of the red-head and tried to hide a slight blush that crept onto his face. Axel smirked at the younger boy. He tried to get up from the floor, but pain raced up and down his spine that prevented him.

"Come on, Axel. We gotta go to breakfast soon."

"Yeah, easy for you to say. You weren't the one who rolled off the bed and straight onto your back!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and walked over to his slightly injured friend. He bent over as he extended a hand out to the red-head. Axel gratefully took a hold of it, but purposely didn't move; he had a plan. Honestly, Axel didn't know if this was to get back at the blond or if it was just another way to mess with the poor blond, like he always did.

"Jeez, Axel! How many of Riku's cookies have you eaten?! Gosh, you're heavy!"

"I didn't eat that many, besides, you're just really weak. Remember what happened last week? I had to help you hoist the anchor up outta the water."

"That's not my fault! And you weren't the only one who helped," Roxas used his other hand to try and get Axel up, "Luxord and Xaldin did most of the work anyways, you liar!"

"Details, details..."

"Jeez, how much do you weigh, Axel? Four-hundred—WHOAA!"

Right as Roxas was about to finish his sentence, Axel allowed himself to be pulled up by the blond. Roxas found his back against the cabin wall and Axel right on top of him. He immediately remembered this same sort of encounter with his drunken cousin, the real Ven. Axel looked down at the blond, who was struggling to return the red-head's gaze without turning ten shades redder. This was actually quite humorous for Axel.

"Well, looks like you found the strength to pull a four-hundred pound Axel off of the floor." He joked.

"Wha—wait a second, you purposely did that, didn't you?!"

"Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't."

Roxas pouted, "You're a jerk."

"Why thank you, Ven! I'm so FLATTERED." Axel suddenly felt something rumble underneath him, "What was that?"

"My stomach...can you please get off of me now?"

Axel chuckled as he grabbed his green shirt off the foot of his bed, "You're about as bad as Demyx."

* * *

Watching the morning sun rise, Zexion folded both arms and leaned them against the railing of the main deck. He shut his eyes and let the fresh morning breeze blow right past him. It was a perfect environment for a person in need of solitude. Zexion didn't consider himself as an outcast; he just really did not enjoy the company of others most of the time. Especially if that person keeping him company had wildly styled blond hair, ocean-blue eyes, loved the water, and was the most oblivious person on the entire planet. Luckily for Zexion, that person wouldn't be out of bed until five minutes before breakfast was served.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?"

Zexion opened his eyes, but did not even bother to look over his shoulder because the owner of the voice soon joined him at the railings.

"Morning, Marluxia."

The other pirate slightly smirked as his rosy-pink hair was being blown about in the breeze. His deep blue eyes were focused on the horizon. Of course, there are many distinctions in the shade of blue eyes a person could have. For example, Ven had these sort of sky-blue eyes, Demyx had the top-layer-of-the-ocean kind of blue eyes, and Marluxia had a shade of blue that was as dark and deep as the ocean floor. Zexion was naturally observant so he couldn't help but recognize these subtle differences.

"How long have we been out here?"

"About 2 minutes, but if you're asking how long we've been at sea; I'd say about a month."

"I can't wait to get out of the ocean and back home to Isle de Muerta…"

"So you can tend to those precious plants of yours, if I am not mistaken?" Zexion lightly joked.

"Of course!" Marluxia winked, "This time I'm definitely bringing some with me. I miss them terribly!"

Silence surrounded both pirates soon afterwards. Zexion's solemn disposition immediately returned. Marluxia turned his head around and looked at the slate-haired pirate.

"I'm assuming that you didn't summon me here to neither stare blankly at our surroundings nor make fun of the absence of my flowers."

"You've assumed correctly."

"Then what is it?"

"I needed a second opinion on our newest member, Ven."

"May I ask why?"

"He has been acting quite oddly as of late. One example is that he is very attached to Axel and if I remember correctly, last year he would not socialize with any of us except Riku—and occasionally Demyx. He also has been spending an awful lot of time with our prisoner, whereas before he could honestly careless about the prisoner. I do believe that his left ear is pierced as well." Zexion explained.

"Hmm…that's odd. Hey, remember when we were on Destiny Island for a week? We tried to convince Ven to get his ears pierced and he was so against it. I highly doubt he'd go get it pierced after that argument…it'd be very contradictory."

"My thoughts exactly, Marluxia."

"So, what you're trying to tell me is that we've got an imposter onboard?"

Zexion nodded his head.

"Should we alert Saïx or the Captain about this? I mean it's pretty serious…"

"I believe that we should, but only after our trip home to Isle de Muerta. It will give us time to prove our point to the Captain."

"But why would an imposter be on this ship?"

"I don't know..."

"Do you think it's because of the Captain's plans?"

"I have a feeling that it has something to do with the prisoner…and maybe the sea beast, but I'm not entirely sure…"

Just then a bright voice broke the two pirates' conversation.

"Morning Marly! Morning Zexy!"

Marluxia smiled, "Good morning, Demyx."

"Looks like it's almost time for breakfast…" Zexion grumbled.

* * *

Axel yawned obnoxiously as he stretched after finishing his breakfast which consisted of pancakes drowned in maple syrup, a few strawberries, and a glass of orange juice to wash it all down. Roxas rolled his eyes at the red-haired pirate's obnoxious actions. He was kind of used this behavior especially after being stuck with the guy for a full month. The two of them sat alone in the dining room because the events that happened earlier had caused both of them to be ten minutes late for breakfast.

"Must you always do that, Axel?"

"Yes. Yes, I do." Axel smiled, "Hey, you wanna go chill with Demyx before we land at Isle de Muerta? I think he wrote another new song…or something like that."

"I'll pass. Besides, I think I'm gonna help Riku clean up the kitchen."

"Suit yourself. Hey, since you're going down there…you wanna take my dishes too?"

"Sure…"

"You're a prince, Ven."

As Axel got up from his chair, he reached over the table and ruffled Roxas's already messy blond hair. Roxas shook his head—so that his hair would settle back to its natural style—and began to gather the dishes. He released a small yawn as he made his way to the kitchen. Opening the kitchen door with his right shoulder, Roxas saw that Riku had just turned on the faucet and was about to start washing the dishes. The silver-haired pirate turned around and smiled at the blond.

"Nice timing, Roxas."

Roxas coughed as he set the dishes down in the sink, "It's Ven…"

"It doesn't matter. No one comes to the kitchen that often. Besides, you both are practically twins anyways…"

"Well, other than the fact that he's my uncle's kid."

"From which side again?"

"My dad's side, I believe…" Roxas paused, "Speaking of which, I don't even know if my mom had any siblings."

"Maybe she did and just didn't want to tell you or Sora. Or maybe something happened to him or her."

"Maybe…"

Rikulooked at the contemplative blond who was leaning against the kitchen counters next to him with both arms crossed over his chest. Roxas stared blankly at the kitchen floor as several thoughts bombarded his mind.

"Hey!" Riku lightly splashed the other with water, "I know I just cleaned the floor and all, but it's still not that interesting to look at."

The blond smiled sarcastically, "No, honestly, it's really that great…"

"Yeah, whatever…anyways, help me with the dishes since you're here—rather than staring at the _MARVELOUSLY_ wonderful floor."

"Yeah, well, stop trying to be sarcastic—especially when you obviously aren't too good at it."

"Touché"

* * *

After helping Riku with the dishes and obtaining the keys to Sora's room, Roxas made his way down the hallways with a plate of leftovers from breakfast. He began to whistle a small tune from one of Demyx's recent songs. If there was anybody who could whip out songs faster than the bubbly sitarist, that person was probably God. As he walked up to the wooden door, Roxas twirled the keys in his hand and unlocked the door.

"Good morning, Sora!"

Sora smiled, "Morning baby brother"

"Hey, just 'cause I'm a year younger than you doesn't mean you can call me that."

"Actually, yes it does."

"Fine, I guess someone doesn't want their breakfast then…"

"You're so mean, Roxas!" The brunette crossed his arms and pouted.

Roxas smiled, shook his head, and handed his big brother his breakfast before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You know, sometimes I wonder why _you_ were born before _me_ because _I_ clearly act more mature than _you_ do."

"Oh yeah? What about that one time we were watching with the clown-looking villain and that batty superhero—"

"Hey! I was only seven!"

"Well, still, you sat in dad's lap the **WHOLE** time with Mr. Cuddles. When the movie was over and mom turned on the living room lights, you were as white as a ghost and your eyes were so wide—it was hilarious!"

"Now, you're just being plain mean..."

"Don't forget the best part, _I _had to sleep with you that night 'cause you were scared outta your mind!"

"…"

"Still think you should be the older brother?"

"…maybe," he paused, "Okay, maybe not…"

"Maaan, I honestly miss those days." Sora stated before eating a pancake.

"Speaking of which, do you remember if we have any family left? I mean other than you, me, and Ven."

"Hmm…well, there's Ven's parents Uncle Ingus and Aunt—or 'Princess'—Sara. I believe Ingus was dad's only sibling…I think mom had an older brother, but I don't remember who it is…"

Roxas crossed his arms over his chest and muttered something incoherent under his breath. The brunette was about to question his young brother, but decided against it and continued to finish his breakfast. After a moment of silence between the brothers, Sora couldn't help but wonder why they were still here in the first place.

"Sooo…have you figured out why the hell we're still on this god-forsaken ship? I mean in the past few days I've been visited by a couple of pirates."

"Really? What did they look like?"

"Uhh…a guy—or at least I think it was a guy—with pink hair, a guy with long blue hair with an X-shaped scar on his face, and another guy with long light blond hair kinda strikes me as a science-y person…"

"Sounds like Marluxia, Saïx, and Vexen…"

"Well, do you know what they want with me?"

"Huh?" Roxas pulled out of his thoughts, "Err…no, not yet. I'll probably ask Axel about it later…"

"Axel?"

"My stupid, obnoxious, red-haired, green-eyed, diamond tattooed roommate…"

"Jeez! Is this whole ship full of guys or what?!"

"Actually, there is one girl on this whole ship."

"Are you freakin' serious? Is she at least good-looking?"

"Uhh…I guess." Roxas paused and thought about the blond female, "But then again…she's really…abrasive…and it's really intimidating."

"Ahh, I see."

"You're not thinking about trying to hook up with her, are you? 'Cause if you are, please don't…"

Sora laughed, "Nahh, I totally wasn't thinking about that, but now that you mention it…I think I will."

"No, you won't. And you better not, Sora." Roxas warned.

"Hah, just kidding!"

At Sora's last words, Roxas let out a sigh of relief. It's not that he didn't like Larxene, she was just really out there for a girl.

--

_The first time Roxas had actually met the blond female was when Axel had led him to the front of ship to train. Larxene had wondered over to where the two boys were and observed their battle. It was Axel and his pair of chakrams versus Roxas wielding two ordinary swords. After the two were done with their match, which Roxas won for the first time since they started training, Larxene seemed to belittle Axel's skills as a fighter—that had sent the red-head over the edge. _

"_IF YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN I AM, WHY DON'T YOU FIGHT HIM?! THEN WE'LL SEE WHO GETS THE LAST LAUGH!!" Axel spat at the blond girl._

_Larxene had smiled cruelly at Axel and turned to face Roxas. She put four knives in between her fingers on both hands. Roxas noticed that the knives had light blue handles and a bright yellow blade on each. The blond girl was the first to lunge forward in order to start the battle. He stood his ground and raised a sword to parry one of Larxene's fists. In the background, Roxas could faintly hear Axel being a bit of a cheerleader for the young blond boy. The battle went on like that for a while, but in the end it was considered a tie since both of them were clearly exhausted. Larxene smiled a bit and declared that the blond boy wasn't "half-bad". Axel waltzed up to Roxas, draped his arm around the younger's shoulders, and decided to rub the blond's would-be victory over Larxene in her face. She rolled her eyes before walking back to her room. The red-head congratulated Roxas with a pat on the back and said that he "freakin' kicked ass". Roxas smiled one of his rare genuine smiles and stated that he was honestly afraid of Larxene because of her belligerent personally and style of fighting. The red-head began to ruffle the young pirate's hair and told him not to worry about her._

_--_

"Roxas!" Sora yelled.

"Wha-huh?"

"Didja hear me? I said I was done with my breakfast. Jeez! I was trying to get your attention this whole time."

"Sorry about that. I was thinking about something…"

"I swear…you're brain is gonna explode one day. Like once we're outta here, I'm gonna be at work one day and Cid will answer a phone call from the officials and he'll hand the phone to me and it will be like," Sora cleared his throat and attempted his best British accent, "'Are you Sora Strife? Well, I'm sorry to say that your younger brother, Mr. Roxas Strife, died this morning.' And I'll say, 'That's AWFUL. Please, tell me what happened to him.' Then he'll say, 'I believe his brain exploded from thinking so much'."

"Yeah, like a person _COULD_ die from over thinking…"

"Then I'll have to bury you with mom and dad. I'll pay the graveyard people to write on your tombstone, 'Roxas Ayden Strife, Cause of death: over thinking'."

"You're ridiculous, Sora _EMERSON_ Strife."

"Hey, no middle names here!"

"What?! You're the one who started that."

"I was only stating what was gonna be on your tombstone once you die from a brain explosion."

"You're dumb…" Roxas rolled his eyes and grabbed the empty plate.

"Heading out?"

"Yeah, I gotta get ready for our arrival at Isle de Muerta. Apparently we're gonna be spending a week there while the Captain waits for our new outfits or something like that."

"New outfits? But pirates don't need that, do they?"

"I really don't know. I guess we're more than just pirates…maybe a 'secret' evil organization or something like that…"

"Whatever, have fun with that baby bro."

* * *

Back in the cabin, Roxas watched the ship slowly dock in the harbor of Isle de Muerta from the bedroom window. Axel later made his way into the room. He looked over at the young pirate and shook his head. For some odd reason, ever since his encounter with the blond after he had returned from bar in Port Royal, Axel constantly had a hard time getting the boy out of his mind. And the fact that Roxas was his best friend and hung around him all the time didn't help alleviate this problem either. The red-head knew for a fact that he wasn't gay, but the blond was just so adorable sometimes and it was hard not to think about him. Especially whenever he actually smiled, his sarcastic smiles were okay too, but the one that really killed Axel inside were those rare genuine smiles like the one after battling Larxene. And those blue eyes were to kill for, the red-head would travel all around the world just to see them. It kind of reminded Axel of Demyx's new song from this morning.

--

_Demyx laid the newly polished sitar across his thigh and seemed to hug it closely. His only audience, Axel and Zexion, sat on the slate-haired pirate's bed across from where the blond musician was. The sitarist closed his eyes and took a deep breath before starting off with a soft acoustic riff. Then he began to sing peacefully. Not only was Demyx musically gifted with that stupid sitar, but he was a brilliant singer too. If he ever wanted or could break off from the pirate life, the blond would be a hit in the music industry. Axel and Zexion marveled at the lyrics to his small tune._

Hello Beautiful,  
How's it going?  
I hear it's wonderful in California  
I've been missing you its true  
But tonight I'm gonna fly  
Yeah tonight I'm gonna fly  
'cause I could comb across the world  
See everything and never be satisfied  
If I couldn't see those eyes  
Hello Beautiful,  
It's been a long time  
Since my phone's rung  
And you've been on that line  
I've been missing you it's true  
But tonight I'm gonna fly  
Yeah tonight I'm gonna fly  
'cause I could comb across the world  
See everything and never be satisfied  
If I couldn't see those eyes

_After a couple of minutes, Demyx finished his song and looked up at the two boys across from him. Zexion looked the same with his singular azure eye looking clearly disinterested, but deep down inside, the blond had a gut feeling that the other was probably gushing over it like a fan girl over a singer who had been at the top of the charts for months. Axel applauded the sitarist and joked that if he kept this up, he would be drafted by a bunch of pirates who happened to literally be vegetables and never did anything. Demyx slightly frowned at the red-head's joke before trying to get Zexion to admit that he liked the song as well, no matter how many times he criticized the blond's musical skills and songwriting._

_--_

Roxas looked over at Axel and tilted his head to the side in confusion. The red-head had entered the room and just stood in the same spot for a couple of minutes now. It was like he was trapped in his own thoughts. Then Axel seemed to snap back to reality and stared back at the blond.

"What, just because I was thinking about something automatically means that I can't tell that you're looking at me oddly?" He smiled slightly.

"Well, you just kinda came in and just stood there."

"I came in here to ask where you were planning on staying while we're here."

"Uhh…"

The blond paused for a moment; he honestly had not thought about where he was going to go after they had arrived at Isle de Muerta. The crimson-haired pirate chuckled lightly.

"Haven't thought about that yet, have you?"

"Not really…" Roxas answered truthfully, "I guess I could just stay at a nearby Inn or something."

"Well, if you want, I've got a spare room at my place."

"Alright, I'll stay with you I suppose…"

"It's probably better than any ol' Inn here anyways."

Axel smiled, wandered outside of the cabin, and managed to quickly disembark off of the ship. Roxas shook his head and wondered what he had gotten himself into for excepting the red-head's offer so quickly. Well, he was only going to stay with Axel at his house for only a week or so. It probably wouldn't be too bad…considering the red-head was almost nineteen and the blond was a couple of weeks away from turning seventeen. His eyes widened at the thought. Who was he trying to kid? In a house with an obnoxious and wild nineteen-year-old with his seventeen-year-old best friend, there was bound to be some chaos. Roxas sighed and tried to prepare for the worst as he left the cabin, got off the ship, and was basically thrown into the unknown city of Isle de Muerta.

xXxXx

* * *

**Before I let you guys review your hearts out...I just wanted to point out a couple of things that I put into the chapter for laughs. It actually might be lame...but i thought it was funny. **

**1. The whole "I'm so flattered" crack from Axel. Didn't intentionally put that in to quote the game...it just kinda fit...**

**2. The movie that Sora and Roxas watched when they were little with the "clown-looking villain and the batty superhero" reference to Batman. I was thinking about the new Batman movie that's coming out this summer. I CAN'T WAIT!! (squeal)**

**3. I couldn't resist. I HAD to put Ingus from Final Fantasy III in this stupid story somewhere. His hair is kinda like Roxas's...in a way. **

**4. The middle names for the Strife brothers...I thought it worked okay?! (panic)**

**5. The song Demyx sang. Props to the Jonas Brothers. The song is called, "Hello Beautiful"**

**6. Axel made a very lame comment by saying that Demyx would later be drafted by a pirate crew consisting of a bunch of vegetables that don't do anything...reference to Veggie Tales "Pirates who don't do anything". I think Demyx would make a lovely vegetable. (laughs)**

**Oh! Before I leave, can you guess who Aerith's older brother is? (smirks) Byeeeee! **

**--DrumlineSuperAsh0095**


	9. Home

**Oh my gosh...it's been exactly a YEAR AND A DAY since my last update. I am SOOOOOO sorry. (insert incredibly sad face here) Ughh, school is so time consuming. It's lame!! I need to have more free time...seriously.**

**In other news:**

**-My school is currently closed due to the Swine Flu freak out. Err...excuse me, I meant the "H1N1 Influenza A" freak out...**

**-Heroes had another brilliant season. I love Sylar aka Zachary Quinto. (teehee)**

**-I am absolutely excited about the new Star Trek movie coming out May 8th! AHH!! AND Zach Q is going to play young Spock in the movie. Spock is my all-time favorite character and I already love ZQ sooo, it works out. (teehee) I even went into the next realm of nerdness and made t-shirts for me and another fellow trekkie. Obviously, mine has Spock all over it and my friend has Capt Kirk on hers. It's great! **

**Anyways, I'd like to send a big thank you to: thunDaClap, XxSadakoxX, vixen fire, and Amakurikara.**

**Before I get on another Star Trek rant mode, I'll shut up and let you read. **

Enjoyyy!

* * *

xXxXx

As a child, Roxas always heard stories about Isle de Muerta. Some believed that it was just a deserted shipyard full of skeletons left by deceased pirates, while others—like Hayner—believed that it was actually a secret hideout for some infamous pirate captains and their crews. Even if a person did believe Hayner's theory, that person wouldn't be willing to find out if it were true anyways. Roxas smirked a bit. He definitely had to tell Hayner about Isle de Muerta whenever he was done saving Sora.

The houses were built in a familiar Tudorbethan style, the streets were paved with stone, and there were miscellaneous wooden boxes and barrels sitting against some of the outside walls of different buildings. It was almost an exact replica of Port Royal except for the cave like structure around it, the figments of darker skies exposed by holes in the cave, and the numerous amounts of pirates that roamed the streets. After observing the new environment, Roxas couldn't find Axel anywhere. He mentally started to panic because without Axel he wouldn't know where to go. Sure, the option of going over to a nearby Inn was still open, but it would be rude to be offered a decent place to stay and not take it, especially after agreeing to it. The young blond hopelessly tried to search through the myriad of pirates. With the afternoon sun rapidly sinking over the horizon, Roxas knew that his search for Axel would soon become a lot harder.

"Axel?!" the blonde called through the crowd, "Hey Axel—Oof!"

Suddenly, the pirate that Roxas accidentally ran into turned around to face the blond. The pirate was very tall and heavily built with muscles from countless years of sailing. The figure before Roxas sort of reminded him of Lexaeus who was probably the most physically powerful member of the _Dark Doom_'s crew.

Lexaeus had short auburn hair, a well-built body, and a constant scowl on his stern face. Roxas did not know much about Lexaeus because he hardly ever spoke to anybody other than Zexion. However, the only thing Roxas did know was not to start a fight with the giant auburn-haired pirate. Once, the blond thought it would be fun to train with everybody on the ship. When it was Lexaeus' turn, he happily obliged to the younger pirate's request. Roxas completely ignored Axel's precautions and thought Lexaeus wouldn't be too impossible to beat. However, when he saw the size of Lexaeus' tomahawk, the blond's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He knew at that moment that this training match would not be an easy one to win. In the end, Lexaeus walked away from the match with only a cut on his left arm while Roxas left with a bruise that covered nearly all of his back. He was forced to sleep on his stomach for a week or two. Not only did he have to endure Vexen's nursing, he had to listen to Axel's constant teasing, usually consisting of "I told you so" and "How's that back feeling?"

Roxas looked at the man before him and thought that this pirate looked slightly more intimidating than the silent auburn-haired giant…if that was honestly possible. The blond believed that it might have been because of the other's grotesque clenched teeth and snarl or maybe it could have been the other's dirty and tattered clothing.

"What's it to ya, punk?!"

Roxas opened his mouth to apologize, but all of his words seemed to be trapped in his throat.

"What's yer problem?! Ain't cha gonna apologize?" the other pirate spat and cracked his knuckles, "Why, I oughta teach ya some manners…"

The blond shut his eyes tightly, anticipating the enormous pirate to punch him soon. Instead, he didn't feel a thing other than the presence of someone else. The sound of a swift punch to the mouth and the groans of the other pirate soon filled his ears. Once he opened his eyes, Roxas saw Axel standing in front of him—like a shield—and the aggressive pirate lying on the stone pavement trying to nurse his broken jaw.

"Hey, here's a lesson for you buddy: don't go picking fights with someone smaller than yourself or else a broken jaw will be the least of your worries…Got it memorized?"

Axel looked back slightly at the Roxas, made a small motion forward with his head, and walked past the injured pirate. Roxas quickly followed behind the red-head and tried to ignore the death stares coming from the man on the pavement.

"Thanks for that…"

The blond's tiny thanks was not heard by the taller pirate because he continued walking quickly ahead without any form of acknowledgement. Staring at the back of Axel's crimson spikes, Roxas' lips formed into a small pout. At least he could have said something or looked back at him…something like that would suffice. The two teens walked in silence for a while before Axel led them into the entrance of a small alleyway. The only source of light came from a streetlamp located diagonally across from the alleyway. He leaned against the wall opposite from where the younger blond was, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at his feet. Roxas didn't know exactly why they were there in the alleyway and his curiosity made him slightly nervous. Axel sighed before looking at the blond teen.

"Hey, you okay?"

Roxas nodded.

"I know you've only been here a few times, but you still have to be really careful…especially with a bunch of people like _that_ idiot roaming around."

"I know…and I'm really sorry, Axel." He looked down and apologized like a small kid who had done something wrong and was now being scolded.

"Hmm…alright. Just be careful next time 'cause I dunno if I'll be around to protect you again. Got it memorized?"

Protect. If there were words that Roxas slightly disliked, protect would be one of them. It was unusual because the word sounded quite positive and good, but in Roxas' mind "protect" had a fairly negative connotation tagged onto it for numerous reasons. His parents were unable to protect themselves because they were too occupied with protecting him and Sora, he was unable to protect Sora from being kidnapped by the pirates, and now he could barely protect himself from being beaten by the pirate with a newly broken jaw.

The blond sort of slumped against the alley wall and his face became obscured by the shadows that the streetlamp's light could not touch. His thoughts about his deceased parents were coming back again; he needed to stop thinking about them. Axel reached out to grasp the younger's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him from the new aura of sadness that surrounded the blond. Roxas swatted the hand away from him. After feeling something warm on his left hand, the younger pirate paused in confusion. Roxas took a few steps into the light from the streetlamp and examined the hand that swatted Axel's away. It was covered in a huge splotch of fresh blood.

"Ven, are you bleeding?"

"No, I haven't done anything to—" Roxas thought for a moment, "Wait a second…Axel, let me see your right hand…"

The red-head looked at the blond with a puzzled look, but obeyed and offered his hand with his palm facing upward. Roxas examined the untouched palm and then turned it in order to examine the back of Axel's hand. The blond found the source of the fresh blood. Axel had a pretty deep cut that was about an inch long, which started from the knuckle on his middle finger. He looked up at Axel with a look of concern.

"I'm not the one whose bleeding…you are."

"Really? Huh, I didn't even notice that."

"You must have hit something in order to get this kind of a cut…"

"Yeah, well, I did just sock the living daylights outta the pirate that tried to beat you up." Axel thought for a moment, "I think I might have grazed his tooth with my knuckles…"

"Eww, that's really gross. Now we definitely have to get to your house so I can clean it up and bandage it." Roxas let go of Axel's hand and started to walk out of the alleyway.

"Hey, I'm perfectly capable of doing that by myself!" Axel shot over at the blond.

Roxas stopped at the entrance, looked over his shoulder, and rolled his eyes, "Honestly Axel, I don't think you could…"

The red-head opened his mouth to shoot another witty comment at the blond, but slowly closed it. He pursed his lips together and walked out of the alleyway. Roxas let a small smirk form onto his lips. Axel saw the smirk from the corner of his eye, lightly tapped the blond on the cheek as he walked past, and sarcastically stated that he shouldn't let his little word victory inflate his ego. The younger pirate pouted once more as he followed Axel to his house. As the two pirates walked alone in silence, Axel couldn't stop thinking about the blond's last comment. Both of them had spent so much time together during their month out at sea. One was never seen without the other. The red-head could feel a sense of codependency growing between the two, even if Ven tried to deny it—which he did quite often.

* * *

"Woo-hoo! We're **finally **home!" Demyx pushed open the door, which promptly slammed into the chocolate brown wall, and then proceeded to turn on the living room lights.

Zexion's house was themed in the darker side of the color wheel. His walls were either dark brown, a medium grey, or black. The rest of his house perfectly matched in every aspect with the occasional shades of cream, darker reds, greens, and blues. There were rarely ever any bright colors in the entire house. Without the use of electricity, Zexion's kitchen was definitely the brightest room in the house. Like a normal house, it had a living room, spacious kitchen, one bedroom, two bathrooms, a dining room, and one abnormally large study that also compensated as a library.

Zexion cleared his throat, "Correction. _I _am home."

"But Zexyyy, we both **share **the house!"

"Don't call me that…and since when—Oof!"

The slate-haired pirate had turned from the blond, moved forward into the house, and immediately tripped over a line of boxes that was in the middle of the walkway from the door to the living room. With his face against the grey carpet, Zexion emitted a noise that sounded like a really irritated growl. Demyx leaned over the fallen pirate and began to jog the other's memory.

"You remember the last time I was over? Well, you were absolutely absorbed in your new book and it was the night before we were about to depart to another place—I can't exactly remember where we were going though…Anyways, I said, 'Hey Zex, can I move in with you? Because it's kinda pointless to have a house that you rarely ever stay in…and I figured that since I hang out over here all the time I might as well move in…' and you muttered something that _sounded _like a yes. Sooo, here we are…and you just tripped over my stuff."

Zexion lifted his face off of the floor and said through gritted teeth, "I noticed Demyx…"

* * *

The two teenage pirates continued their walk to Axel's house in complete silence, with Axel leading the way. Roxas stared at the mass of crimson spikes protruding from the back of the taller boy's head. He kept wondering if there were any family members or anybody else the red-head had left behind after joining the _Dark Doom_'s crew. During the month out at sea, Axel never talked about anything pertaining to his childhood or anything personal for that matter. The blond debated on asking him before they reached the red-head's home. Roxas chewed on his lip as he began to ponder why asking Axel the question even mattered, but he had to ask anyways.

"So," he broke the silence, "Did you leave anybody here? You know, family members...I don't know…a girlfriend or something?"

Axel turned around to look at the younger pirate. His face held a perplexed expression as a single red eyebrow rose. Roxas swallowed the lump building in his throat. He knew he was crossing touchy boundaries at that point because the other's eyebrows slowly began to furrow in thought. This whole thing was confusing because on the first day, he remembered that he could have cared less about the obnoxious red-head. But as the month slowly passed, Axel became his best friend. Roxas refused to believe that there was anything more than friendship because he was not gay. Even the real Ven knew that! However, there was this strange connection that the two shared and made them practically inseparable. And now, little butterflies of nervousness began to build in the pit of the blond's stomach.

"Uhh…yeah," the red-head's response came out slowly—almost hesitantly, "My friend Elle. You'll probably meet her whenever we get to my house."

"Oh." Roxas said as Axel turned away and began walking towards his house again.

The blond could only imagine how Axel's "friend" looked like as they walked in silence. Elle was probably some super model with bright green eyes that sparkled like emeralds, light chocolate brown locks that went flawlessly with her creamy skin. Her movements were probably so graceful that it would make even a top-notch ballerina envious. Roxas could feel the jealously boil in the pits of his stomach. The blond suddenly paused; he was getting jealous over an imagined version of some girl he had never met before…who happened to live with Axel. What was happening to him?

"Ven?" Axel questioned softly, "Are you okay?"

Roxas blinked at the red-head twice before nodding sheepishly.

"Well, we're here anyway."

The blond watched Axel fish the house key from underneath a brown doormat and unlock the front door before returning the key to the mat. The red-head opened the door and gestured Roxas into the house before himself. With the first step inside the house, Roxas found himself in Axel's quaint living room furnished with an oak coffee table set in front of a beige couch, maple bookshelves that extended from the furthest corner of the room to the fire place—which was furnished with pictures—on the right wall near the couch, a small entertainment center was placed in front of a large window covered by a chocolate brown satin curtain that subtly contrasted with the room's cream colored walls. There were two hallways that connected to the living room, one towards the back and one towards the left of the room. The hallway in the back led to the Axel's kitchen. The other hallway led to the rest of the house. The younger pirate absorbed his surrounding with his mouth slightly opened. For a house that was rarely ever used, it was beautiful.

"Hey, Elle! I'm home!" Axel called into the seemingly empty house.

Roxas waited for the Elle of his imagination to appear from the kitchen entrance, but she did not come. Instead, a medium sized blue merle rough collie emerged from the empty house. Roxas was amazed at the collie's coat. It had a solid black base color with lighter blue/gray patches on the body and tail, which gave the coat an uneven speckled effect. However, the fur around the collie's neck was pure white and some parts of the face—especially around its eyes and muzzle—had light brown streaks that contrasted with the other colors. The dog's ears were covered in black fur. Roxas watched the red-head as he suddenly dropped to his knees and opened his arms for the collie. The dog barked once out of pure joy and flitted into Axel's open arms. After ruffling the collie's fur for a while, he placed a small kiss on its forehead. The collie licked the red-head on the cheek before turning its gaze towards Roxas. The blond noted that the collie's fur wasn't its only unique feature and was completely stunned when he looked straight into the collie's eyes. The left eye color was an icy blue while the right eye color was a subtle dark brown. Axel noticed the dog's intent stare towards the younger pirate and cleared his throat.

"Ven, this is Elle."

Roxas was taken aback, "Wait, _this _is Elle?"

"Yeah. What did you expect?"

"When you said 'friend', I assumed that it was a _human_ friend…not a dog!"

"Well, Elle happens to be my friend…even though she is a dog. I don't understand why you're getting so upset…unless you thought she was my girl—"

Elle grew impatient with the two boys' bickering, slid out of Axel's embrace, and uttered a low growl at them. Roxas slightly flinched and broke his gaze from Axel's emerald eyes. The older pirate's eyes softened as he reached out for her once more and stroked the side of her face.

"I'm sorry, Elle." Axel looked over to the blond, "For some reason, she just doesn't like arguments…I've never argued in front of her…I don't know where it came from."

Suddenly, the collie withdrew from the red-head's hand. She caught a very odd scent on his hand, blood. Elle nudged Axel's hand with her nose until his hand turned and exposed his newly acquired wound. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him like a scolding mother. Axel smiled sheepishly and cleared his throat before quickly walking towards the kitchen where the first-aid kit sat in one of the cabinets. Elle rolled her eyes as she went into the living room and lounged on the couch. Roxas followed Axel into the kitchen and saw that the red-head was having difficulties opening the bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"Hey Ven, can you help me open this damn bottle?"

The blond smiled as he strode over to the red-head's side, took the bottle, and opened it with the slightest of ease. Axel leaned against the kitchen counter with his injured hand over the stainless steel sink. Roxas was standing fairly close to the red-head and began pouring small amounts of rubbing alcohol over the cut. The taller pirate kept wincing every time the ointment touched his skin. After closing the bottle of rubbing alcohol, the blond tried to dry off the cut carefully with a paper towel. Then he sat on top of the kitchen counter while Axel stood below him. Roxas grabbed a roll of gauze, placed the red-head's hand on his knee, and slowly began to dress the wound.

"I told you that you would not have been able to do this by yourself," mused the blond.

"Shut up, shorty," Axel said curtly before admitting defeat, "…thanks anyways…"

When Roxas was done dressing Axel's cut, he jumped off of the kitchen counter and slightly lost his balance. The blond landed in the red-head's arms, against the perfectly chiseled muscles underneath his shirt. Roxas' heart began to pound harder and quicker in his chest as he listened to Axel's calm and steady heartbeat. The blond's face turned a light shade of red as he peeled himself off of Axel.

"You okay?"

"Y-y-yeah…," Roxas stuttered, "Thanks."

"Look, I'll just clean this up. You can go take a shower—I'm not telling you that you stink or anything…it's just nice to shower in a house as opposed to a ship, that's all. The bathroom is past the living room, take the other hallway, and continue walking until you reach the door on the right. Actually, I'll guide you down there…I'm assuming you want a different set of clothes, huh?"

"Uhh…sure. Preferably nothing as puffy and ridiculous as these pirate clothes."

"Hah, I think that can be arranged."

After Axel finished cleaning up the first aid kit, he walked the blond down the other hallway and through the mahogany door to the left. The door led them into Axel's bedroom. A queen sized mattress covered in an off-white duvet sat in the middle of the room. The head and foot boards were built with two dark brown poles located next to the four corners of the bed and silver metal that formed intricate designs ran between the two poles at the top and also between the two shorter poles at the foot of the bed. In contrast with his cream colored living room, the walls of Axel's bedroom were a deep crimson and his window curtains were black. Roxas thought that if Axel had stood against these walls, he wouldn't be able to tell where the guy's hair ended and where the wall started. He suppressed a slight laugh as the red-head walked over to the closet in the far left corner located diagonally from the foot of the bed, opened the double doors, and dug through the dresser in the middle of the closet. After digging through the drawers, Axel threw a light blue t-shirt, black basketball shorts, white socks, and…an unused pair of boxers. He closed the dresser and the closet doors before turning to the blond.

"Other than our heights, we're probably the same body type…more or less. So, I'm pretty sure they'll fit."

"Right, thanks." Roxas muttered and headed into the bathroom.

"Do you need help figuring out how the shower works and all?"

"No, I should be fine."

"Alright. Well, I'll be out in the living room with Elle…if you need me."

* * *

"So, where am I going to sleep?"

"Definitely not in _my_ bed. I propose you sleep on the couch…or the floor, which ever you prefer."

"Awh, Zex. You're so mean to me."

Zexion stared at the blond, "It was _your _decision to be here. I could have said that you should sleep outside."

Demyx began to chew on the inside of his cheek. The slate-haired pirate usually acted this way around everybody, but he was a little less extreme when it came to his superiors. Although he never really asked, Demyx always wondered why Zexion acted the way he did. Maybe it was some tragic event in his past that altered his views on life. Maybe it was his comfortable relationship with solitude. Maybe it was his upbringing as a child. Demyx would often ponder while either swabbing the _Dark Doom_'s decks or during any other tasks set for him. One day, he would summon the courage to boldly ask the slate-haired teen. He would also often wonder why he was so attached to Zexion. Demyx figured that it was because of the other's complexity that was comparable to—if not beyond—a really hard Sudoku puzzle or maybe it was his lustrous silver hair or that single azure eye that challenged and manipulated any poor soul who fell under its gaze. Or maybe, it was the fact that Zexion never smiled in his life—or at least for as long as Demyx had known him. The blond uttered a resigned sigh and began to lounge on the couch.

"Fine, I'll take the couch…"

Zexion blinked in almost bored acknowledgement, turned to enter his bedroom door, and almost tripped again over Demyx's stuff.

"First thing in the morning, you are going to clean up this hazardous mess that is it in my house."

"Sure, sure." Demyx slightly waved off the other's complaints.

The slate-haired pirate was about to say something to the aggravating blond, but then the phone rang quite obnoxiously. Zexion expelled an irritated growl before walking into the kitchen to the phone and picking it up.

"Hello?...Lexaeus, what an unexpected surprise…Ah, I see…Indeed, I shall meet you there. Until then."

Demyx's ears perked up when Zexion hung the phone on its receiver. Zexion walked back into the living room and began to move straight towards the front door. The blond was slightly unnerved as Zexion crossed the room without even giving the blond a passing glance. Demyx quickly dismissed the idea of stopping the slate-haired pirate. Maybe it was something important pertaining to the "elder" members of the crew. He heard Zexion turn the doorknob and then exit his house. Demyx decided that he would question Zexion about it later because a wave of exhaustion quickly swept over the blond.

* * *

Roxas walked down the dark hallway towards the living room. Elle was lounging on the beige couch with her head propped on Axel's thigh while he surfed through the television channels. When Roxas entered the living room, the red-head lazily turned his head towards the blond. He smiled as the younger pirate began to ruffle his hair with a towel. Axel patted the empty couch cushion next to him, asking blond to come and join. Roxas obliged and sat on the beige couch. The collie's ears perked up before she stood up on her cushion and walked on Axel's thighs. The red-head let a sharp hiss pass his lips as the dog's paws sunk into his thigh. Elle settled herself on both of the pirates. Her body was draped over Axel's right leg and her head was lying on the blond's left leg.

"Elle, you're not a puppy anymore! You can't just walk on me and then use me and Ven as a freakin' cushion!"

The blue merle collie ignored the red-head's protests and closed her eyes peacefully.

"I don't think she's listening to you anymore." Roxas stated with a sarcastic smile.

"Such an ungrateful dog…"

The blond stared at the television, "What are you watching anyways?"

"…I'm not sure…I think it's a soap opera? But I've had enough of it."

Axel turned off the television. He looked over at the blond as a cocky smile appeared on his lips. Roxas raised a singular blond eyebrow in confusion.

"So, how do you like my house?"

Roxas scoffed, "Your house? I thought this was stolen from a wealthy family and you were just playing the part of the owner."

"Oh, haha. You're very funny, Ven."

"Well, the house is nice," Roxas felt Elle nuzzle her head underneath his hand and he began to stroke her fur, "but I think Elle won me over."

"She has a very charming personality. I suppose she got that from me."

The blond stifled a laugh as he smirked, "Yeah right, Axel."

"I'm dead serious!"

"How did you get her anyways?"

Axel began to mock think, "Uhh…I think my old man brought her home from work when I was a little kid. I don't remember the exact details though…"

"I almost feel bad for her…"

"Why?"

"She had and still has to deal with _you_."

"That hurt, Ven…that really _hurts_!"

Roxas stuck his tongue out at the pouting red-head. Axel tore his dejected stare from the blond as he began thinking out loud to himself.

"It's almost midnight…"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"If you haven't noticed…the house only has ONE bedroom."

"Oh."

"Haha, it'd be pretty sexy if you and I shared the bed." Axel winked.

Roxas' eyes grew wide as a blush crept to his cheeks, "Wh-what?!"

"I'm just kidding, Ven! Calm down!"

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Well, you are my guest…you take the bed."

"You're not gonna come in there and molest me in the middle of the night…are you?"

"Only if you want me to, Ven, but it would be consensual at that point."

"…"

"I'm just kidding…again!"

"Where are you going to sleep then?"

"Couch."

xXxXx

* * *


End file.
